A Complicated Series of Events
by Mustsleep
Summary: Chapter 21: Cupcakes. The reason Sasuke came to detest all sweets.
1. The Beginning

**EDIT: I am very thankful that Totally Not Pyro was kind enough to BETA for me. So here is the edited version of my first chapter **** ^-^ I am incredibly happy!**

***I don't own anything! These will be a series of one shots that interweave with each other. Please enjoy! Reviews, whether their critiques or expressing joy, are appreciated but not required ;) Thank you for your time and without further ado the first chapter. Mustsleep Z.z***

One shot: The Beginning

Dinner had been awkward to say the least. There had been complete silence throughout the meal, except for Naruto's clatter of dishes, gulping of tea, and absorption of ramen. That was where it began, with ramen. Well, if you wanted to be technical, it began with a turtle.

The day's training had been an easy D-rank mission, finding and catching a turtle. Ok, it could have been an easy mission, if Naruto hadn't tried to pet the thing. The turtle snapped; capturing the pesky finger in its mouth. The biting wasn't the problem. The fact that the creature wouldn't let go was.

It had taken an hour for the medic-nins to decide what to do. Killing the turtle wasn't an option but it did come up several times in the debate (from Naruto.) Finally they tried using sedatives, believing that if the turtle relaxed it would release its grip on the finger. It didn't. Instead it fell asleep with its jaws still clenched. It was probably tired to begin with, from running away, being threatened by the lettuce man for eyeing his cart, and from having a blond idiot scream in its ears as it was swung in the air. The turtle did not loosen its iron jaws but instead began grinding them, causing more pain to the already hysterical teenager.

Finally the head medic-nin came into the room and drained the sedative from the turtle, causing the beast to wake up. Then, he extended a piece of lettuce to the creature of evil and all was well. Except, of course, for the fact that the medic-nin decided that instead of just healing Naruto's finger; he would give him stitches, to teach him a lesson in manners. So, several hours later, six to be exact, the team of three (Kakashi had left after thirty minutes searching for the turtle) completed their mission.

All three walked through the market. One nursed his finger, the second sighed in irritation, and the third drooled over the second. Through their stretch of walking around the lively square they came across Mikoto.

"Kaa-san." Sasuke bowed at the woman holding several bags of groceries. She smiled gently at his two teammates. After introductions were made the woman immediately asked if they had eaten. As if waiting for the cue, Naruto's stomach growled which was followed by Sasuke's, then by Sakura's; all of whom looked down at their feet with tints of pink marking their cheeks with embarrassment.

Mikoto laughed, tears almost falling from her eyes. The children before her were beyond adorable. "Well, would you like me to make you something for dinner?" Mikoto asked.

"Ramen!" Naruto cried. Both Sasuke and Sakura moved to hit him. Sakura reached him first. "Ouch!" the blonde squealed as he received a glare from the raven-haired boy indicating to shut up. Mikoto watched all of their reactions, while trying not to die of laughter.

"Anything sounds good, Uchiha-san," Sakura bowed.

"Actually," Mikoto opened her bag to peer in. Three heads leaned over to do the same but the bag snapped shut. "I was thinking of ramen, myself."

"See guys, great minds think alike! Dattebayo!" Naruto cheered, causing two hands to hit his head simultaneously. This elicited a blush from the youngest woman in the group, as she shyly stole glances of the quiet Uchiha. None of these things escaped Mikoto's notice.

"Well," Mikoto started, breaking up the small bicker between the blond and raven haired boy, "ramen does sound nice-" she turned her back hiding a smile, "but these bags are so awfully heavy. I don't know if I'll have enough energy to cook by the time I get home."

This stirred an immediate reaction from the blue-eyed boy. He almost tackled the Uchiha matriarch in attempt to get a hold of the bags. In the end, all three children ended up carrying Mikoto's monthly 'stocking the shelves' list to the Uchiha compound.

Mikoto began preparing the dish as she manipulated Team Seven into doing several of her least favorite chores. Mikoto hummed as she worked, enjoying the amount of power she had. No laundry, which Sasuke was folding; no bathroom cleaning, as Naruto was scrubbing; and no delivering snacks to the elder Uchihas, with whom Sakura was having very deep and meaningful conversations about the political system of Konoha. Yes, life was good like this for Mikoto. She could learn to live with having Sasuke's teammates over more often.

Mikoto motioned with her hand for the quiet male standing at the entrance of the kitchen to come inside. She smiled up at her long, black haired son. He returned the look with a subtle pull upward of his lips. He leaned over and kissed his mother on the forehead.

"Do you need anything, Kaa-san?" Itachi asked.

"Actually," Mikoto pursed her lips while looking her son up and down. She waved her hand as if to shoo him away. "No…its ok, you wouldn't be able to do it."

The Uchiha complex kicked in. "No task is unable to be completed by me." When he saw his mother's lips quirk up, Itachi's eyes narrowed, wondering if his arrogance would be the end of him.

"Well, you see," Mikoto tapped her lip in thought, "I'm worried about Sasuke…"Immediately she had Itachi's full and undivided attention. It took all her effort not to crack a smile. Her eldest son had such complete devotion to his little brother.

"One of his teammates," Mikoto's voice dropped to a whisper and instinctively Itachi leaned in closer, "is too distracted."

The onyx eyes clouded over, trying to see beneath the outward meaning. Mikoto almost sighed; she would have to spell out the situation. "If they were to go on a deadly mission…" she let the end hang. It clicked for the genius as he began picturing his brother injured or worse. She had him playing into her hands.

"What can I do?" The almost-man practically begged.

Mikoto looked him over before covering her face with her hand. She shook her head, "No, it's ok. I don't want to involve you. I'll figure something else out." She felt a pressure on her shoulders and when she removed her hands, she was staring into level onyx eyes.

"Let me do something, Kaa-san," the ANBU captain pleaded.

Mikoto paused as if considering it. She sighed in reluctance. "Alright." Mikoto could almost scream with glee, but she held it in; the reward would be worth screaming for. "You know the pink-haired one?" Mikoto continued on in a whisper. Itachi nodded. Mikoto looked up as the ceiling as if to ask 'Why', just for effect. This caused Itachi's eyes to widen in almost disbelief. Giving a sniff, she returned her attention back to the man.

"She's obsessed with your brother."

Itachi's eyes began to swirl red.

"No, sweetie," she placed her hand on his cheek and shook her head. "I think there are only two things we can do to solve this…" She removed her hand as the red became black. "She needs to be trained. Obviously, Kakashi isn't doing enough." She hoped those lines wouldn't be tracked back to her. "And she needs something else,_ someone__else_, to obsess over that isn't in sight during missions."

Itachi nodded at his mother's logic. Understanding the situation he was in now, he began tinkering with a plan. "You wish for me to befriend this pink-haired one and become her fascination." She was just a young girl; it wouldn't be that difficult.

Mikoto shook her head, "It's ok, Itachi. I'll try to figure someth-"

"It's alright, Kaa-san, I will accomplish this task." The raven-haired, seventeen year-old left the room. He needed to plan.

Mikoto smiled as she began chopping onions. Her least favorite chore, the most detestable task she had, was entertaining those old geezers. According to her sister that had passed by, they had absolutely fallen in love Team Seven's cherry blossom. That was fine and dandy with Mikoto. In fact, her plan might be capable of killing three birds with one stone. She could distract the elders; create a competent teammate for Sasuke, and produce a talented future wife for her eldest.

Mikoto was still grinning impishly when her husband walked into the kitchen; this caused him to believe she had poisoned the food (because of their argument from the night before.)

That was why dinner was so awkward. Because of the ramen, Fugaku would not speak or touch the food, giving nervous glances at his smiling wife. The ramen was caused by a frustrating mission about a turtle. In truth, the whole situation could have been blamed on Naruto. Not that Mikoto was blaming the blue-eyed child that was scoffing down his eighteenth bowl of ramen. Who could blame a kid who showed such enthusiasm for their cooking? Who could blame a child for starting a chain of reactions that would enabled her to live a far more pleasant life?

But for the record, Naruto could be blamed for beginning the complicated series of events that would soon follow…


	2. Trifled With

***I don't own anything! I've never had so much reaction before, thank you all for the story alerts and favorites! A special thank you to those that reviewed Please enjoy! Review are greatly appreciated; although again, it's not required. Sorry there are no ItaSaku moments in chap 2 but I promise the next one will have some. I promise! Thank you for time: Mustsleep Z.z***

Chapter 2: Trifled with

The last thing Kakashi wanted to do that day was go to the main Uchiha household, but being woken up by a screaming blond and a panicked sharingan wielder was the last straw… Hmmm…Maybe we should begin the story earlier that morning.

As usual team seven was to meet at o-five-hundred. Of course, Kakashi usually showed up at seven thirty; but that was beside the point. Sakura was always first to arrive by approximately twenty minutes ahead of schedule, while Sasuke came at the five minute marker. Naruto came right on the dot, if not several minutes late.

When Sasuke arrived and found Sakura not in her normal giggling mode on the bridge; he was slightly perplexed, but then again people sleep in. When Naruto arrived and Sakura still hadn't showed, he became slightly worried.

Naruto had laughed, "Finally! After all the times she's complained about me, she's late!"

When twenty minutes passed the designated meeting time and Sakura had still not arrived; both knew something was wrong. Sadly, both came to the same conclusion. "She must be dead."

The hysterical teenagers went to the only person who would know the truth, being the man who saw underneath the underneath.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed as they literally kicked down the door to his bedroom. To this day they didn't say how they entered the apartment. Although, Kakashi suspected inside infiltration; he didn't own Gracksnap dog treats, whose crumbs were found in the carpet after the incident.

When the copy-nin awoke to screaming and opened his eyes to a swirling sharingan, to say he spazzed would have been an understatement. Both boys, who ran to the bed immediately after the door became a stepping mat, found that surprising an ex-anbu captain was not in their best interest.

The blond one found himself exiting the window of a five-story building. The other found a chirping chidori aimed at this throat. Kakashi, now awake from the adrenaline rush, poofed. He caught Naurto right before he passed the second-story window and transported them both to back to his room. Yes, waking up to Naruto's screaming and Sasuke's sharingan was the last straw.

"What-" Kakashi growled , he was not a morning person, contrary to popular belief.

"SAKURA'S DEAD!" Naruto howled in his ear, cutting off Kakashi's train of thought as the blond in his arms burst into tears. Setting Naruto to the ground he glanced at the raven haired boy. Sasuke nodded his head but was still too petrified from the incident to speak properly.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, sighing, knowing that it was bound to happen someday. He face palmed before dragging his fingers upward into his bed head. "What did you guys do and where is the body?" One could almost hear crickets in the background, or maybe dogs crunching on a treats…

"No, Kakashi-sensei, we're not kidding. Sakura's dead!" The blonds' voice raised several octaves at the last sentence. Kakashi plucked at his ears trying to unclog them. He closed his eyes, giving another sigh, one that could almost simulate relief. He hated waking up, he glanced at the clock, at 5:53.

"Ok, Naruto," He patted the weeping boy's head before giving a yawn. "How do you know Sakura has become deceased?"

The raven-haired boy gathered his composure, red eyes returning to black orbs. "She didn't show up at the bridge."

Kakashi glanced back and forth between the children before him. "Did it ever cross your mind that she could have slept in?"

"NO! SAKURA-CHAN IS ALWAYS ON TIME!" The blond boy converted back into a weeping river.

Kakashi gave another sigh; today just wasn't going to be a good day, he could already tell. "She is probably running late, we'll go to the bridge as soon as I'm dressed." Technically the man only needed to pull on a shirt to cover his well formed abs; he slept in most of his nin gear, including his mask.

When they made their way to the training ground, Kakashi was surprised; the pink haired girl was nowhere in sight. Knowing the student was still running late, although an hour was pushing it, he changed directions, aiming straight for her house.

He knocked several times, before parental worry set in. He transported inside the building, an odd instinct putting pressure in his stomach, and unlocked the door, allowing the two boys in, just in case. Quickly, they checked the ground floor then made their way upstairs. With the coast clear, they entered Sakura's room. As the sound proof door opened, they were greeted by the normal and obnoxiously loud snores of Sakura Haruno.

Kakashi gave a laugh, "See," he turned to the boys. "Sakura let's go!"

There was no movement to his voice, the loud snores continuing on. Kakashi quickly made his way to the bed. Immediate he realized the source of the odd feeling in his stomach. He didn't feel the small pulse of Sakura's chakra. There was slight dirt on her forehead, as the rest of her body was covered by a blanket. Kakashi knew at once the signs of chakra exhaustion; the sheen of sweat, being unable to wake up; he was going to have to take her to the hospital.

He leaned down and picked her up. Well, tried to pick her up and sling her over his shoulder. "Heavy" Kakashi groaned under the weight of the petite figure. Kakashi sighed, he must be getting to old for this. He tried bridal style this time. "No…" He grunted sliding her off the bed with her covers on, "More…" He pulled up, not having much success of getting her off the ground, "Ramen nights…" He bit back a cry as he heard his back crack, "for you…"

He finally decided upon reinforcing his limbs with chakra, the relief was instant. He watched as her feet and hands angled down as if they were tied to anchors. He placed her back down and removed the blanket. There, innocently placed on her wrists and ankle were Uchiha marked weights, 50lbs each. He tossed several to each of the boys, who flew backwards at pressure, then picked up the pink petite. He transported them both to the hospital leaving smoke behind him. He handed her quickly over to a nurse after realizing he just left two boys unattended in a girl's room. He returned to the room.

His gaze immediately went to Sasuke who was inspecting the weights with an activated sharingan. As if feeling the glare, the boy looked up and tossed the weights back to Kakashi. "They look familiar, Kaa-san would know."

Two seconds later the boys found themselves thrown out of the house and the door locked behind them. Kakashi stared down at them from the roof. "Practice is cancelled for today and tomorrow," the grey haired man growled. It was too early for this; he didn't get up till 7:15. Sighing Kakashi mentally prepared himself for the head house hold; today just wasn't going to be a good day.

"Mikoto-san," Kakashi spoke.

The woman turned to find the copy-nin only inches from her face. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. Mikoto kept her face in a contemplating Uchiha look, showing none of the surprise she felt. The smile was a threatening one, like the one she used on Itachi if he skipped out on dinner. It would be best to tread carefully with the ex-anbu operative.

"How may I be of service to you on such a fine morning?"

A loud metal crunch echoed through the house as something heavy dropped to the floor. Mikoto peered down at the four massive bundles. They were her eldest's training weights, a gift from Fuguoko his genin year. Mikoto held in a gleeful chirp and probed the weights with her foot. She raised her right eye-brow.

"Did you want to borrow some weights?"

The copy-nins eyes narrowed at the woman before him. "These were found on the body of my chakra exhausted, female student, Sakura." Kakashi prodded for answers.

"Ah," Mikoto nodded. Turning, she made her way into the living room. Fuguoko looked up from his reading to find his wife begin followed by a threatening aura surrounding the masked man. She walked directly to the wall lined with cabinets and opened the far right one. Inside were multiple lines of leg and arm weights, there were no empty slots.

The matriarch turned around and faced down the grey-haired man. "I'm afraid you've come to the wrong Uchiha residents to place your complaint." She motioned down the rows.

Kakashi surveyed the woman and then extended one of the weights. "Do you know who I should go to?"

Mikoto picked it from his grasp, not showing any signs of realizing how heavy it was, and inspected it. They were old, once they had belonged to Fuguoko and before that his father. There was no name though, no Uchiha would take ones that didn't belong to them; they could tell the difference.

"They're old….They must have belonged to one of the elders," Mikoto mentally smiled, "The pink-haired girl gets along well with them…So, I've heard. Maybe they gave her a pair as a gift. I doubt they would allow her to steal them from under their nose." Suspicious bast-

Kakashi smiled, still without crinkling his eyes; cutting off her train of thought. "Yes, I've heard as well." The smile grew larger. "It must be nice having someone around to entertain them."

Mikoto smiled; the man was a genius, but he would learn the hard way; she was a brilliant diamond compared to his lump of coal. "It is nice for the elders to interact with the younger generation."

Kakashi almost shivered at the way venom dripped from her up-turned lips. But this was his student. "Please inform the elders that before they give Sakura anything, they are to speak with me."

Mikoto's smile widened and her eyes crinkled. "I shall do, just, that." She handed back the weight to Kakashi.

He poofed. From the roof tops he shivered. Those words were going to bite him in the butt. He looked down at the weights still in his hands, he would just return them for now…

Mikoto kissed the stunned Fuguoko on the forehead before returning back to the kitchen. When she was safely inside Fuguoko gave a rare smile, there was a reason he married that woman.

The man set down his scroll and got up. He made his way to the cabinets. There he opened the one on the left. He sighed; he thought he had recognized the weights. Itachi's genin weights were missing from the rows in the cabinets. He shut the door and returned to his seat. He didn't want have anything to do with this…

Kakashi stretched his sore muscles. A good spare with Gia had taken some of the stress from yesterday off. He made his way out the door, sighing at how well he rested, not having to get up early to teach students. Several voices greeted him as soon as he closed the door.

"Kakashi, I want to give Skaura some of my kimchi; would that be ok?" A haggard old woman shoved the tart smelling cabbage under his nose.

"Kakashi, I want to give Sakura this rice cooker; she said hers' was broken." A woman missing teeth smiled at him. "Is that ok?" She waved the rice cooker, with her bony arms, near his face.

"Kakashi, Sakura and I were going to have debate on the thirty-second shinobi code," An old man croaked, "do you want me to give you my points on the lecture before I give them to her."

"Kakashi-" Kakashi's eyes widened as more voices came from the stair case. He peered below, there wasn't any room to walk; he was surrounded by old people!

"Kakashi," a young voice called out to him from below. He narrowed his eyes. There at the bottom, ushering the horrid, wrinkly, people up was Mikoto smiling up at him, eyes closed in glee. "They were all planning on giving something to Sakura, her birthdays in a couple days."

Kakashi rushed back into his apartment, locking the doors behind him. He shuddered; Mikoto was not a woman to be trifled with.

Outside the said woman smiled; she didn't mind the old geezers on family outings like these.


	3. Enlightenment

***I don't own anything. Thank you, everyone who has subscribed and favorited. **A very special Thank you to those of you that reviewed.** Reviews, critiques or encouragements, are appreciated. Please enjoy the next part of this series (Between Ch 1 and Ch 2 on a timeline) Enlightenment.

I'm not very familiar with the 'real' Naruto characters, so I believe some of this might be too OC, please let me know if this is the case, unless of course the OC was enjoyable.

Sorry I've rambled so long. Thanks for taking the time to read my work!

Mustsleep Z.Z***

Ch 3: Enlightenment.

Her pink tongue slipped out and dived at his face. Itachi flinched, as the lick landed on the side of his cheek. Hmm… You people are taking this out of context… so let us start again.

The mission Mikoto had given her eldest son was not going well.

The eldest believed that befriending a young teenager would be no problem. He was wrong. He forgot that he could count all of his friends on his right hand, and half belonged in his family. That isn't to say, he didn't try to become her friend. This meant he attempted many tactics to figure out how to become the pink-things friend, but failed, miserably.

He had stalked her to figure out her habits; this didn't end well when a man by the name of Genma caught him in the act; who dealt him the low blow of calling him a pedophile, which had been awkward to say the least when his family found out.

He had teased her, well, really he tried to improve her training routine but she became so irate she ran off… and probably cried.

He even looked up her entire clan, several generations back; but this did not aid him either.

He was in a rut, because** the **Itachi Uchiha did not know how to make friends.

But you must be wondering how this has to do with how the grand man got into the predicament of having his faced licked by the small, petite female. Well it doesn't…. I just thought I should give some back story before the story really began.

In fact, the man was far more worried about something else then a mission. He was worried about something he knew would affect his life forever.

Basically I'm saying; it all started over chocolate.

It was one type of chocolate to be exact.

It was the only chocolate made by the Forensic Science Life; a renown health-brand company. The chocolate was aptly named Miracle Chocolate, 120 calories, 6g of fiber, 12g of protein, 0g of saturated fat; and was proven to increase Chakra circulation (whatever that meant). But, what did all of this signify? It meant that it was the only type of chocolate the great Uchiha Itachi could eat, without raising suspension of anyone in his household.

And it so happened that this company was going out of business. The chocolate would no longer be supplied, implicating that the Uchiha would not get his chocolate. Ever. Again.

When the news hit the man, it was the first time he had ever experienced fear for the future. He was always sure of himself, always planning twenty steps ahead; now he was lost. The chocolate was the only thing that kept him sane the majority of the days he was in the compound.

While he listened to the elders berate him, his father demand of him, his mother pity him, his fan-girls giggle at him; he could lose all anger by gnawing on the bar of Miracle chocolate. With its sweet flavor mingling in his mouth; the burn of heat from habanero chili sizzling his taste buds, it was hard for him to feel any emotion but pure joy. There was also the fact that no one bothered to say anything about it being 'girly-food' due to the fact of its shinobi benefits of chakra circulation (although no one knew what was meant by it).

If the chocolate were to disappear in his life; Itachi had no doubt he would snap, massacring the entire clan in the process. Excluding his little brother, of course; he was too cute to kill even at age 13.

He came across the news during a mission. The ANBU captain almost raced back home, but he was raised as an Uchiha. Uchiha's always finish the mission. So with seventeen years of emotional control breaking; he secured the scroll in a rushed, unmerciful, killing-spree fashion.

His teammates watched in awe as their captain slaughtered the missing-nins. The screams of the tormented souls echoed through the forest. The masked man picked up the scroll and turned to his teammates, all who took five steps back as the red marks swirled in his eyes.

His cousin and best friend let out a shiver as a cold, blood thirsty voice snarled into the air. "We. Leave. Now."

Not knowing what put the captain in a bad mood, no one was willing to ask to slow down the lightening fast pace or distract him with meaningless conversation. If they had enough air to talk, they weren't moving fast enough in his opinion.

The Hokage was just as astonished when the scroll landed on the desk in record time with the words, "I'll write a report later," echoing around the room.

When his eyes flickered up from his paperwork, there was no trace of the youngest ANBU captain.

Itachi had rushed to the Karonoto store, well, Uchiha rushed. This consisted of a determined walk, one which made civilians dive out of the way and shinobi's run in fear. He walked into the small store, the only one in town that sold the brand, and went to the back where the chocolate was located. There on the second shelf, rested one package.

Two hands grabbed each side at the same time, and one was not his.

His eyes narrowed and glared at the pink haired female beside him; it was his brother's teammate.

Her eyes made contact with his, her pink brows tilted down in anger. "Give it up, Uchiha," she hissed.

There was only momentary surprise from the older boy, but it never crossed his features. Not many were willing to challenge him and few were courageous enough to give him an order, the little girl was going to find out why.

The Uchiha glowered above her, she snarled up at him. Several minutes passed by in complete silence. It was a good thing that Karonoto shop had very few customers because most would have already left screaming at the tension that was created by the two shinobi.

"No." The male growled.

The green eyes turned to slits as her mind flickered with thought. There was the chance that the person before her was just as addicted as she was. Maybe the genius could assist her. Her eyes widened a fraction as if a light bulb was turned on. He was the protégé; there was no doubt he was a brilliant enough to do what she needed.

"Maybe we could settle on a compromise?" The tiny girl asked sweetly batting her eyes.

The man continued in his hard stare. This was something he could not back down on. He depended far too much on this substance; somehow he would make this chocolate bar last a lifetime.

"It isn't going to last long," the little girl pointed out as if reading his mind. "Eventually there will be none left in the world."

He could feel his left eye twitching. The girl saw the reaction and began to relax. She really did need his help. "How would you like to try and recreate it?"

His eyes widened. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. If he was able to recreate the most miraculous substance in the world he could eat it whenever he wanted to. He was just going to waste the last one, on some emotion. He nodded to the girl, he had almost destroyed himself.

Inwardly the little girl was sighing in relief. Having a face down with the protégé of the Uchiha clan was the last thing on her list of 'things-to-do-before-I-die'. Yes, she actually had a list with that being the last thing. From all the gathered stories and rumors from town, he could snap your neck in a mili-second or mess up your mind for life. She had put that on the list as a 'kill-me-quick' if she needed away to escape pain from a rather horrid ailment that would cause suffering.

She had known it was some Uchiha that had grabbed the chocolate by the way the place filled with a dark, overcastting aura. She probably would have backed down if she had known it was the man in front of her.

She could cry it away from most of the clan; they hated emotions, and she could easily get it from one of the elders; they loved her to death. She could play 'baby cousin's teammate' to Shisui. But not this one, out of all the Uchiha's this was the most problematic statue. Sasuke was next, but that was because he wouldn't return her feelings.

This was the Uchiha that tormented her during her training. The Uchiha that made her feel weak, undeserving, and scared. When she had looked up at him, she hadn't been thinking. The only thing that had been going through her mind was 'GET THE CHOCOLATE!' This was a horrid mistake on her part. It was a good thing her inner took over; she didn't like the older boy and was willing to do a bell round with him, while the tiny female fainted inside of her own head.

If she had known it was Itachi that had grabbed the chocolate; she would have dropped it then and there, never looking up. After that she would calmly bolt down aisle; through the door, down the street, into her house, then hide under her bed with a comforter wrapped around her and her lucky bunny in her arms. She had a stash of chocolate in her triple lock safe, so she was well supplied.

After finding out Forensic Science was going out of business, the girl had made her way down to the store immediately with her small piggy bank in hand, but as luck would have it; she needed one hundred more yen to buy the last chocolate bar. It took her twenty-five hours to get the one-hundred yen; winning it off the Uchiha elders playing shouji, which they gambled with one yen coins. She thought it would have been gone by then, she was pleased to be proven wrong. Well, almost pleased; because now she was in this situation.

The girl and boy held eyes for several more minutes, neither willing to let go.

"How do we go about re-creating it?" The dark eyes narrowed at the pink haired girl.

She gave a tiny tug on the candy bar. "Turn it over," she demanded.

They eyed each other with suspicion. Slowly, they turned over the package. There resting on the back, was the list of ingredients. The listed consisted of normal ingredients that one could find at the farmers market each Saturday, except the last. 'Chakra Circle' it read.

"What do you think it means?" the little girl asked, this was her problem. She had never come across anything call Chakra Circle before; she always thought it was abstract idea, not tangible enough to put into a bowl of chocolate.

The older boy shook his head in thought. He hadn't heard of it either. "We'll start with making the base chocolate first. It's the last ingredient listed, that means there is a very small amount of 'Chakra Circle'. It shouldn't affect the taste that much if that is the case."

Sakura nodded at the logic. They would have to work their way to it. Sakura and Itachi both gripped the chocolate tightly in thought.

"We need to do some research on how chocolate is made." Sakura murmured, maybe they wouldn't have to start from scratch.

"We'll need a kitchen that's never in use." Itachi muttered, knowing his mother would want to dive head first into this problem herself. She would use it against him, for the rest of his life; that wouldn't do.

"Hmm…" Sakura nodded, it wouldn't be good to have someone walking in on them while they were trying to concentrate. "My mom doesn't cook, nor my dad."

Sakura loosened her grip on the bar of chocolate. He could be the one to buy it and all of the needed supplies. There was no way she could earn so much yen from playing shouji.

They glanced back at each other and Itachi retracted the chocolate closer to his body. Almost like it was teddy bear, but Sakura knew that with the protégé that would never be the case.

"Library, o-six-hundred." Itachi turned his back to the girl and retreated to the counter to pay for the good. He woke up the clerk, who was drooling all over the counter.

"Don't eat it all." The girl warned before leaving the store.

Yes, that would be the challenge for Itachi. It took all seventeen years of self control for the boy to not devour the chocolate, now he had to ration. He came into his bedroom using the window; then quietly, went to his closet. He lifted up his shoe holder and lifted up the boards. There rested several packages of chocolate. The great Uchiha was not dumb enough to eat it all and then wait for more, he had a year's supply; for a normal person that was. To the Uchiha it would last him a month.

Itachi gave a rare smile. Soon he would be able to have all the chocolate he wanted.

It was not as soon as Itachi and Sakura had hoped though. It turned out that finding the perfect balance of ingredients was very difficult indeed. It had been two months since they had met in the store. Both laid out on Sakura's living room; piles of mathematical formulas, chocolate recipes, and several of their failed attempts arranged around them.

They were much closer then they had been. They now knew how to make chocolate, now they were balancing the heat and sugar of the masterpiece.

Everyone knew something was up. After several weeks, both became irate people. Their addiction was not being satisfied and now they were suffering because of it.

Team 7 basically thought Sakura began to… Well Kakashi told the others that it was that 'time of the month', which evolved into the 'talk' to the boys between the difference between guys and girls. Of course, the lazy shinobi told the short version that girls were affected by moon phases and men were not. Sasuke saw underneath the underneath and did not ask any more questions, letting the matter drop; Naruto on the other hand bought a moon calendar so he could stay away from Sakura during 'that time of the month'. Silently Naruto wondered if she was going to become a werewolf because it was close to a full moon, but that's another story altogether. Anywhoo….

People would dodge out of the Uchiha's way, because of the death glare set in his looks. His cousin would come around every other day but would stop at the entrance way, with Mikoto shaking her head at him in warning. The Hokage silently took the captain off the rooster, not that Itachi noticed.

Basically everyone knew Itachi was going insane; except Itachi and his fellow sufferer in hell, Sakura.

Sakura growled as she picked at the calculator once again. Experimenting with the percentage of what made up the batch of chocolate was driving her up the wall. Not literally, though she debated that if she got to the ceiling a blood rush to the head may aid her in her plight.

Itachi peeked up from his own work to eye Sakura's. Suddenly his eyes gleamed. "We could increase the water percentage, decrease the amount of chili and coco powered, and then add more sugar?"

Sakura's eyes sparkled, a very interesting idea; it would be close to starting from scratch though. Both quickly rose from their positions on the floor, one grabbing a felt pen, and made their way to the kitchen, which was surprisingly clean from all of their miss-trials. They headed to the white board, wiping several of the items clean and began to work again.

Several hours later they stared over the bubbling goo. Slowly, carefully, they each placed in a tiny spoon of their own. Then blowing carefully they allowed the metal into their mouth. Itachi closed his eyes in pure pleasure, it was almost perfect. Unlike most Uchihas, this one could deal with minor imperfections; especially since he had already eaten his entire stash of chocolate two and a half weeks ago.

The little girl on the other hand, was like most Uchihas. It tasted almost the same, which meant their proportions were about right. This meant that they were missing the last ingredient. The little mind was calculating it all in her head, well trying to. She closed her eyes.

"What is a Chakra Circle?" The little girl murmured more to herself then to her partner, who was busy double dipping, his spoon.

He wasn't really concentrating; his mind was finally at peace. He could feel himself drifting far away, back to happier times. Such as the first time he ever completed a fire ball and earned his father's praise. His eyes snapped open.

"What if it literally means chakra, like hitting it with a fire genjutsu?"

The little girl narrowed her eyes. "How would we go about measuring it though?"

"Hn." The eyes of the older boy looked into the pot. "I could try using my weakest genjustsu?"

The girl nodded. "Alright, try it. We have the recipe for this batch written down."

Itachi nodded, he had memorized it with his sharingan just in case anything were to happen to it.

Carefully the mature shinobi let loose a tiny stream of fire on top of the chocolate concoction, making sure not to burn it. The breath ended.

"Wait." Sakura muttered. "What does the 'Circle' part mean then?"

There really wasn't a sign, like the pan rattling or shaking. But afterward the whole neighborhood was suspicious of a meth lab because the noise itself shook the entire house. The pan literally flew into the air as chocolate particles burst in all direction. Spinning as it came down, the dark mixture flew across the entire room.

It was a good thing that both were trained to be a shinobi. It was a better thing that one was ANBU; he had reacted quickly, shoving the girl behind him as he faced the foe. His eyes snapped closed as he was splattered with liquid. Surprisingly the flight through the air cooled it enough that it only stung a little.

In seconds the kitchen carnage ended, leaving the streaking splatter mess upon the walls and a dented piece of metal that no longer resembled the shape of a pan.

The red eyes snapped open, his mind immediately realizing the burning sensation was not from the hot liquid itself but from the chili inside of it. He sighed in relief, the mixture had luckily not landed in or on his eyes; that would have been horrifying.

The little girl peeked around the tall form, her eyes staring in wonderment, taking in the dark coated world around her. It was like she was in some kind of chocolate castle. She glanced at the guy beside her.

"Circle must have meant the entire series of main elements." She nodded at her own logic, she should have known that.

He took in the disaster around him. He definitely could deal with imperfection. He couldn't do all the elements and he didn't want anyone, like a water genjustuist such as Shisui to have any dirt on him.

He turned to eye the girl that was staring at him. He opened his mouth to say they should have thought before acting when he noticed her head was getting a little too close for comfort.

He seemed frozen in time as two petite hands rested on his shoulders and a head rose to stare him in the eyes. Her tongue came out and the Uchiha flinched back as it touched his cheek. Then she was down on the floor once again.

Her eyes widened, "That's it! It tastes the same!"

The Uchiha tenderly licked his arm almost in a cat-ish way. The little girl was correct. He gave a nod then looked back at her.

Her stare was intense, almost as if he had become some piece of meat and she was some sort of large carnivore. He took two steps back on instinct before running into the counter. She continued to slowly approach him like hunter stalker its prey.

"You have some, right," Sakura stood on her tippy toes and licked the Uchiha's lips, "there."

At that the man disappeared with a teleportation jutsu. The girl, not really caring, turned her attention to the wall; which couldn't run away as much as it wanted to.

The man leaned against the back of a tree. He licked his lips, the taste of strawberries and chocolate mingled together; the sweet berry taste and heat actually seemed 'meant to be'. He had thought the other recipe had been good, but this… Itachi closed his eyes and allowed the new taste entrance his mind…. The new taste was desirable.

He would start working on the new recipe forming in his head as soon as he reached home. If he remembered correctly, Mikoto was going to be out for a couple of days, giving him enough time to avoid the woman that could cause him so much misery.

His steps were gentle and quiet as he made his way through the compound.

Shisui paused and gave his cousin the eye over. "What happened to you?" Immediately the man stepped away, remembering the mood Itachi had been in earlier that morning.

The plain black eyes stared at his cousin, one eye brow raised several centimeters upon the odd action. "I believe I have found the way to enlightenment." Itachi turned away, but not before smirking at the confused expression on the older boys face. Of course, known only to Itachi, what he said was entirely truthful.

Shisui watched as his cousin calmly made his way inside the building. The only thing that mattered to him was that the young, dangerous, ANBU was now returning to his normal, pricky self. The spiky head of black hair tilted to the side, before shaking itself out of confusion.

He quickly made his way to the Hokage's office to report the return of sanity.


	4. Getting Caught

***I don't own anything. Thanks for those that have favorited or have subscribed to the story.** A special thank you to those who reviewed! **Please continue to do so. Any type of review, whether critiquing or expressing enjoyment, is appreciated. Thank you for taking your time in reading this story, please enjoy! Mustsleep Z.Z*** Thank you animemistress419 for catching Fugaku's name :)

Ch: 4 Getting Caught

In where: Sasuke beats his head bloody, Itachi avoids the confrontation until after he's taken a shower, and Fugaku is worried because his wife can be scary.

For the record, Fugaku really didn't want to be involved…

Sighing, he glanced at his youngest son clutching a teddy bear. It was the one that had a missing eye, the ripped ear, and the one Fugaku believed he hid back when the boy was five. He swore he had concealed the thing in the attic, under the chest filled with encyclopedias. He doubted the boy was strong enough to lift it, and he knew for a fact the child didn't have enough chakra control to use enhanced strength; which meant someone had gotten it for him. The man's thought process began to analyze the possible situations but sudden sounds disturbed him from proceeding.

The boy had begun to rock back and for on the floor. His grip on the bear had tightened, the poor bear's head was almost coming off.

"You want to talk about it?" He hated these situations. Out of all the days Mikoto needed to leave town to play 'ambassador' to a neighboring village's merchant, she chose today.

"No," the voice squeaked in an octave above normal. The hands gripped the poor ratted thing tighter, although it didn't seem possible, now the fluff from the ear was coming out. Again Fuguoko tried to determine the culprit, the person who went behind his back and returned the bear to his son. The boy's rocking was starting to become an annoyance. Fuguoko glared down at the rotten, moth eaten, one-eyed bear; then sighed, the child was beginning to use the diseased thing as a pacifier again.

His mind concentrated on the problem at hand. The sun was just beginning to rise.

"Was it a nightmare? … The one with no more tomatoes in the world?" He glanced everywhere but at the child on the ground before him. This was just a horrid situation to be in.

"No."

The rocking continued, much to Fugaku's displeasure.

"Was it a spider? ..." Awkward silence rewarded his try at appeasing the young rocking chair. "I can squish those for you."

Even though he knew the boy could do it himself. Well, should do it himself. He understood if the child did not want to deal with them; Shisui's pranks could have life-long mind altering effects. Shoving the child in the spider infested hole, which the body-flickerer had found while exploring the woods with his sweet, tiny, 'baby' cousin; hadn't solved the arachnophobia. It had made it worse.

"No." Again it was a one word answer.

The man could feel his lips twitch. He knew teaching the children to only give the shortest answer possible would come back to bite him in the as-. The entire thought process of Fugaku stopped as he heard a tiny whimper escape the mouth of his youngest child.

Fugaku sighed again. Couldn't the kid cut him a break? He was the stern, demanding, firm figure of the family; not the gentle, delicate, sensitive, 'I'll-be-the-one-to-comfort-you-man'. His role in the family had been determined years ago. Mikoto and Fugaku had discussed and agreed upon the situations before they had even decided to try and have children. She didn't want the kids to get confused.

The man, yet again, sighed, this time in discomfort. This was going to be awkward. He tapped his foot, lightly, against the back of the thirteen year old as though to comfort him.

"There, There?" He questioned, more to himself then to his son.

This brought Sasuke out of his ravine. His eyes went large as if seeing the end of the world. Several swear words left the kid's mouth as he shifted directions, away from Fuguoko to face the wall. There he began to bang his head against the dark wooden boards.

Fugaku twitched, yep, Mikoto was right. Confusing children was not a good idea. The man would have face palmed if he had not been an Uchiha. So he settled for several, throat clearing, loud coughing noises; but they did nothing to distract the boy from his head banging activities.

The man decided to settle for defeat, this obviously wasn't under his jurisdiction.

"I'm going to go get your mother."

She couldn't have gotten far with a two hour head start.

Surprisingly though, Itachi was next to run across the boy. Fugaku, still looking for Mikoto, had yet to return.

Wiping the sweat from his brow; which he had accumulated from several hours of training, he gave one look at the bloody wall and the black haired boy hitting it. Cranking his head to the side, Itachi could almost see his younger brother being a dipping duck, one of those adorable outside ornaments. If only there was water splashing from the beak rather than blood…

As much as the Itachi loved his younger brother and the amount of blood coating the was slightly disturbing, Itachi was willing to bet he knew the problem and that if he started to talk to the young boy he would never be able to take a shower, which he desperately needed. Itachi nodded to himself, if the boy had lasted this long he could wait another fifteen minutes.

He gently patted the pointy black hair, making sure not to disrupt the child's actions, as he walked passed him down the hall way.

Mikoto was next to arrive at the scene followed by an **almost **submissive looking Fugaku.

She watched her youngest child smear and splatter the blood across the wall with mild disgust, she was going to have to clean it later, and worry because it was a somewhat gruesome sight. She quickly leapt to the child's aid and picked him up in her arms, as though he was a two year old.

It had been two hours. Two hours. And this is what Fugaku had done to her little baby. Her lips twitched as she glared over the small boy's shoulder at the man in the door way. He was going to pay big time. He almost shivered openly at the threat in her gaze.

She had been away…going away, to be an honored Uchiha ambassador to a hot springs owner and herbal merchant. She thought that when Fuguoko had came to her about 'confusing the child' that it would be a minor incident, with a quick fix, so she could swiftly return to her well deserved leave (seventeen years was a long time to go without a break).

She could now see this was not the case, 'confusion' her ass. Her little angel was going to need treatment, maybe even one of those dreaded mental doctors to help him recover. Her eyes narrowed in on the man she held responsible. What had he done to her sweetie-pie?

She sat on the floor and positioned the boy in her lap. She carefully began messaging the back of the boys head, she could already tell the front was badly bruised and cut.

The boy opened his eyes and leaned back to take a look at his mother. Her gaze went into baby mode as she stared into the depthful black eyes that held the emotion of fear and pain. Whatever the man had done, the child was probably going to be scarred for life.

The boy quickly tucked himself back into the woman's arms, dropping the teddy bear, for the source of warm comfort. This caused Mikoto to finally notice the ratted, torn up, doll.

One hand barely fit into the small space between their bodies to take the doll out. She tucked the child in closer as she stared and inspected the toy behind his back. She gave Fugaku a questioning gaze.

"Where did you get Mr. Squeakie?" She squeezed the bear's sides; a low raspy noise was heard. The boy was probably going to have to rename the poor thing. Fugaku shrugged, not knowing.

Given it was a dog toy; she could probably still find one just like it at the Ninja Mutt Store. Her little boy always enjoyed noisy and obnoxious things, she squeezed the bear again.

She had ended up saying it was given to Sasuke by Hana*, Itachi's teammate, because giving something so insufferable to her baby was to un-Uchiha. Poor girl still didn't know why the elders hated her.

Mikoto mentally smiled, remembering how eventually the elders stopped coming over because of the tiny little squeaking toy, their hearing-aids acted up around high squealing sounds. Those were the days… Now the geezers came over looking for Sakura, at least they left when they found out she wasn't visiting.

As her eyes caught sight of her husband moving backward through the door way, her mind drifted back to the blood on the wall and the child in her arms. Her gaze narrowed in and the man froze in his steps, knowing full well if he moved once more it would be his last.

The mother kissed the back of the boy's head. "Sweetie," she murmured. "Tell mommy what's wrong."

The thirteen year-old gave a tiny cough as though clearing his throat from crying. Several sniffs later he shifted closer so he could speak into her ear. "Kashi-sensei, " cough-sniff- "Genma,"-sniff-sniff- "talk,"- cough- "me and Naruto,"-the hacking and coughing noises became muffled sobs as though the child couldn't bear the thought of finishing.

Instantly the older woman's mind realized how much time her child's sensei spent reading the 'orange-books'. Her eyes narrowed and a low growl escaped from her mouth. As much as she knew they had good plots and excellent character development, there was no reason for Kakashi to give her angel a more depthful 'talk' then the one they had at home. She knew there were many things in those books Fuguoko had probably never mentioned, and to have her son find out through a lazy, white haired, old man or Genma for that matter was maddening.

She dully wondered if her exstensive collection of exotic poison bottles were still in the cupboard upstairs. No, her mind reprimanded her; it would be more fulfilling to sliver their skin off with a spoon or watch them boil in a pot of hot water. She would make them pay for hurting her angel. Her eyes went to Fugaku who almost looked like he was vibrating on the spot.

"Fugaku," he shivered visibly at the venomous smile upon her features, "Please inform Genma and Kakashi that they are to come over for…dinner…"

Mikoto could feel the boy underneath her loosen up and look up at her.

"No one, gives our children the 'talk' accept us…" she clarified with a growl.

Fugaku nodded his head in relief, it wasn't his fault. "Yes, of course…" This was his moment to return to the good side. "We'll burn them alive."

Both adults began to cackle, one from excitement and one to avoid suspicion of the other.

"Wait."

Their heads turned to Sasuke, who seemed to regain some of his composure.

"Kakashi-sensei didn't give us the talk." He slid from his mother's grasps, taking the bear from her grip.

"But you just said… Kakashi,Genma, talk, you and Naruto." Mikoto stood, followed by Sasuke.

"No. Kakashi and Genma were talking. Naruto and I overheard what they were saying..." Sasuke scratched the back of his head (a nasty habit he picked up from his teacher his father noticed). Sasuke was beginning to feel sorry the trouble the two almost got into was because of him.

"And what were they saying?" Mikoto asked watching the younger child.

"They were talking about Itachi…" Suddenly the boy froze, turning a paler white color.

"What did they say about Itachi…" Mikoto said tapping the boys shoulder. "Sasuke." The boy was staring behind her.

"Yes, what did they say about me, little brother?" Itachi emerged from the bathroom hearing only the last few seconds of conversation.

The boy turned whiter, if it was possible, before taking several steps backward, away from his brother.

"Genma said you…" The kid visibly gulped. "you…"

"I?" Itachi questioned as he began to walk closer to his brother.

"You…" the boy's eyes strayed across the room looking for a quick escape.

"I will not be mad at you for telling me something someone else said." Itachi murmured gently, as though talking to a petrified animal.

Sasuke gave a gulp. "He said you were stalking Sakura and that you were a pedophile-I didn't say it he did." There was not a pause in his words as he spoke excessively fast.

Fuguoko gazed went straight for the older boy. The mask Itachi wore was tight fitting, no emotion showing, not even surprise; either he had trained Itachi extremely well or the boy knew it was coming. For some strange reason, perhaps a gut instinct, the father of the child believed it was the latter.

Several seconds later, the eyebrows of the ANBU captain rose up. "That is what you were worrying about?"

Sasuke nodded dumbly.

Itachi walked closer and pulled his brother into a light embrace. "Do not allow what people say to worry so much." He kissed the top of the thirteen year olds head, very gently.

Sasuke's lips quirked into a tiny smile. "Sorry."

The boy actually let out a nervous laugh. "It's just that it seemed so odd and out of character for Genma. He was actually sounded like he was truly worried about Sakura's safety, he was all serious." The kid's laughing became looser and carefree.

"It's not like you actually stalked my teammate or something, right?" the laughing got louder, one could have walked in and think they somehow ended up outside of the Uchiha compound. Then the laughing stopped as the younger boy looked up at his brother with a smile. "Right?"

"I believe Genma was referring to me following Sakura around…"Itachi began, the smile on the younger brother face fell. The two males in the room looked at the long haired boy with utter horror; the woman beamed a smile. Sensing the tension and awkwardness, Itachi began to change the direction of the conversation; perhaps explaining the entire situation wouldn't go very well.

"But you shouldn't be concerned," Itachi took a breath and his mind quickly thought up a lie. "I actually remembered a week ago, Sasuke," he glanced at his brother then to his father, "said that Sakura had bought him a gift of tomatoes and he did not know what to get her in return. I thought I could aid him and find a gift considered suitable for the young girl so that he would not worry about it."

The young boy's mouth formed an 'o' knowing full well the conversation he had been involved with his brother. He had angrily thrown a fit about how he didn't know how to return Sakura's gift. He didn't want her to think him improper, Mikoto raised him better. He didn't want her to read too much into it, which would end up with him being attacked with fan-girlish screams. So when he got home he had ranted to his brother.

"Well," Mikoto smiled, seeing through the lie that had blinded the others in the room. "What should Sasuke get her?"

Itachi looked over at his mother, trained eyes seeing the enlightenment of catching prey in a trap. Yet, Itachi was no prey, and he was raised a better shinobi.

"A coat is what she really needs…" He muttered, the girl was always shivering to death when he saw her. "But that would seem too much…" He glanced at Sasuke, "I would suggest a Melon Pan** to express your gratitude. Food for food."

Sasuke stared at his brother in admiration, Fuguoko nodded in contemplation 'food for food' was a good theory to live by, and Mikoto eyes dulled with un-satisfaction. She had been enjoying the awkwardness of the situation.

Sasuke's hand squeezed the bear with relief; a low rasping sound filled the house. It was almost as if someone had just let out their last breath.

"Where did you get Mr. Sqeekie?" Mikoto asked again.

Itachi's lips twitched, the boy wasn't supposed to bring it out of his room. He had returned the toy five weeks after Fugaku had hid it under the chest in the attic. The little tike had determined that if his teddy bear wasn't there to save him from nightmares, then he would go to the next best thing… Itachi. So after several weeks of getting no sleep, Itachi returned the bear, on the grounds that Sasuke 'be like a ninja and hide it from dad'.

"Uh…" Sasuke muttered as he stared at the bear in his hands. His eyes glanced at Itachi then back down at the bear.

"Itachi," Fuguoko growled, finally happy he could return to his position in the household, as the punisher, manly, demanding father.

Itachi glowered, the boy had just turned him in. "Foolish little broth-"

"Grounded!" Fugaku snarled.

Itachi's eyes stared at Fugaku, disbelief clearly showing on his features. His right eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch. "What does that entitle?"

Fuguoko rubbed the tip of the nose in thought. How did one ground a shinobi, an ANBU captain for that matter? Sighing Fugaku looked down at his son. He really didn't know how to ground.

A motion from the corner of his eye caught his attention; Mikoto pointed to herself.

"Ah, yes…" Fugaku stood up straighter, "You shall accompany your mother and be an ambassador for the Uchiha family. You will be respectful and helpful to the Ildor family, the herbal merchant family." Fugaku nodded, it sounded like a good plan to him.

Itachi bowed to his father, somehow Sasuke would pay.

The man left the room; he had done his manly, fatherly duties for the day.

Mikoto looped her hands around Itachi's arm, "We're running late for our appointment."

Itachi nodded and they both set off. As soon as they got out of Konoha's city boarders Mikoto nudged in closer to his son.

"Now, how exactly did you get caught?" Mikoto smiled up, innocently, at the man beside her.

Itachi's eye twitched in irritation.

Mikoto leaned in closer and up, her breath tickling his ear. "Getting caught in pedophilic actions is not appropriate of an Uchiha heir."

Dully Itachi noticed she didn't mind he did the actions, as long as he didn't get caught doing them. Of course, what he had done wasn't pedophilic. For one, he was seventeen not eighteen. For another, he was just trying to figure out her habits not harm her in any way.

She growled inwardly as her son kept his stony expression. She wanted some details. She closed the little space left between them, giggling inwardly. She had an entire week to wretch the story from his lips. Like they said, patience was a virtue; but when you could get it when you wanted, why wait?

She smiled up at the boy who was looking down at her. She was going to get it out of him, whether he liked it or not.

Itachi growled inwardly, he could never hurt his little brother physically, so the bear was going to pay. He wondered what it would resemble after he used a fireball on it.

Poor Mr. Squeakie…

*I believe several different fanfictions I have read before; have listed Hana (Kiba's sister) as Itachi's teammate. I'm not sure how true it is… (Probably isn't) but please let me know in a review or send me a message because I would love to know if it's true or something the fandom of Itachi has created.

**Melon Pan: a sweet bread in the shape of a melon… somebody blogged about it.

* * *

At the moment I am currently looking for a Beta-reader, if you are interested please look on my profile for further information. -I tried using the Beta-reader stuff, but the people I tried to pick out looked like they hadn't been on in forever; I would also like someone who is a fan of Naruto and ItaxSaku... I'm being lazy... I know.-


	5. Respect

*** *This one isn't suppose to be humorous. (so please don't kill me) *****

***I don't own anything. Thank you for all of those who favorite and subscribed (alerts). A special thank you to all who have reviewed! Reviews are greatly appreciated, critiquing or otherwise, and I enjoy getting them; however, they are not required. At the moment I have been trying to find a beta… Did you know that people that haven't been on in months (years) still haven't taken their name of the list for beta-ing RAWR!

If you would like to beta for me, please send me a message (or look in my profile). Production will continue as usual though. Although, I will be gone next week so no update, hopefully the week after that I will be able to post but I'm not sure.

Sorry for chitchatting for so long. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, Mustsleep Z.z***

Ch 5: Respect

"Would you like to know why you have so few friends!" the little girl in front of him growled as she moved slowly through the training area. Her entire body looked like it was in shackles; by the way she seemed to drag slowly through the area. Her poor thin frame was also covered in scratches, dirt and tuffs of grass.

Itachi raised on eyebrow, not really caring, as he threw another kunai at her.

She yelped as she leaped to the side…tried to leap to the side. Instead she found herself, once again, with her face in the dirt.

She spat out the grass and gravel from her mouth as she tried to get to her feet. Her entire body ached, with her muscles screaming to 'stay down'. But the girl knew better, he would continue to throw them at her.

She didn't understand why she was actually here… Ok, she knew why she was here; but at the moment her mind was so worn down she could barely have a thought besides 'dodge!'.

"You use them like training dummies!" She snarled at the older boy.

The seventeen year old continued to stare at her as he reached for another kunai.

Several swear words left the girls mouth as she ate more dirt, this was insane. She was chakra exhausted, her muscles had stopped working hours ago, and she was forced into being a moving target. A moving target with eighty pounds of weight spread evenly across her body.

Someone was going to pay.

She knew there was no way she could touch the prodigy, though.

So, Naruto was going to compensate for that.

It was his entire fault anyways. Oh, she knew… She knew very well. He had to get sick.

He had to get Kakashi sick, which was odd because Kakashi always wore a mask. He had to get Sasuke sick; she expected that from all the close face yelling the kid did to his rival. He, therefore, ended up leaving her alone with an ANBU, stone captain, who sadistically enjoyed the suffering of others. Whose whole purpose in life was to make hell for her.

Oh yes, Naruto was going to pay big time, her inner screamed with satisfaction.

Another kunai flew towards her face and she fell over again, her entire body rattling from the impact.

Sakura let loose a groan as she attempted to flip on her stomach, she moved half a centimeter.

She heard the gravel crunch slightly as the plain, stotic face of the ANBU captain looked down at her.

"If you were a training dummy, you would have been dead by now."

The girl was too tired to be nice. Too tired to remember this was her crushes 'favorite' brother. She wanted him to pay.

"Go to hell!" she spat and wriggled from her position on the ground. Her entire body felt like lead.

The captain sighed and looked the girl over. The pink hair overpowered all of her other features, like her rather large forehead, her obnoxious green eyes, her thin arms that held no muscle. Itachi found it annoying. Pink was a pastel color, one he wasn't too fond of.

He was grateful for this chance though. His mother had been right, the girl before him was pathetic. She would probably end up being a weak link on any team she was put on. She had been unenthusiastic about his training, but she sorely needed it.

He kneeled to the ground and began to remove the multiple weights on her body. Mikoto had warned that she didn't want a repeat with Kakashi.

The girl glared up at him through shielded pink eye lashes.

"You're an ANBU captain, why would you do any of this anyways?"

Itachi paused and looked her over. He had helped her several times before this, discreetly of course. When she had shown up to see his brother, he had used the opportunity to question her about training. Interesting enough she had actually wanted his help, then, which he had willingly given along with his genin weights.

He debated about answer her question, deeming that perhaps it was best to tell her the truth.

"I fear for my brother's safety. A weak team member is a shattered defense. You leave you teammates back open for an attack."

The girl blinked up at the seventeen year old, as he returned to taking off the weights.

"You fear for Sasuke's safety…" she trailed off.

Itachi almost rolled his eyes. Out of all the things to take from the conversation… He pulled off the last weight.

Sakura let out a moan of pain as she sat up. Everything in her body seemed to scream. Sakura eyed the stotic male with suspicion.

"You actually care about another human being?"

"Yes…" Itachi raised an eyebrow. Was that so hard to believe? "He is my little brother…"

The girl bit her lower lip as she eyed the man, who had sat down to disassemble the expensive set of body weights.

"That can't be true…" The girl twisted her head to the side.

Itachi wanted to let loose a sigh but knew better. "Why can't that be true?"

"Because for one, you're an Uchiha. Two, your nickname is...," the tiny girl paused in thought. It probably wouldn't be the best idea to let Itachi know what his nickname was in town. She did not want to be on the receiving end of anything the older boy was willing to dish out.

"Ah… Never mind… Three, Kakashi says you care only for your own desires and that I should spend a lot less time with you because you will use me for evil purposes."

Itachi blinked at the last one. So Kakashi had reacted to Genma's… warning… Itachi wondered what the man would do if he knew that Itachi had taken his place as team seven's instructor.

"So obviously if Kakashi says you care only for your own desires, then you can't care for Sasuke." The girl demanded.

Itachi let out a long sighed. He doubted that there was anyone like this girl in the world. She was completely unique in a bad way, which made it a good thing she was unique. He couldn't handle a world full of people like her.

Taking a deep breath, Itachi stood, taking the weights with him.

"The point of my previous conversation was that you should be training harder. Do not be the reason your teammate dies in battle." Itachi glared down at the young girl. Immediately he felt guilty.

Her lower lip quivered and tears flooded from her eyes.

Itachi hated tears… they made things very awkward.

He continued his stare, waiting for the fit to pass, although he lessened his glare.

"I will be completely straightforward with you. Even if you don't cause the death of your teammates, you will be unable to pass the chunin exams in your current condition. If you want to stay with my brother or the blond haired boy, you must become greater."

Her eyes sprung more leaks as she stared up at the man.

"The reality is you can change. Nevertheless, no one can make you do so. This must be your choice, Sakura. Do you wish to stay as an incompetent konouchi or will you become something more?"

The wide green eyes looked directly up into dark, stern, uncaring orbs. The tears stopped and the girl gulped as she took in the information.

Several long moments passed between the two of them.

The girl gave a quiet cough and rubbed the staining salt from her eyes and cheeks.

"Give me back the weights…" the girl extended her arms to the ground and pushed herself up. The dull throbbing pain was nothing compared to the dagger in her chest. "Let's continue training."

Itachi nodded and began to put the weights back on her body.

He looked her over making sure it was well balanced, nothing made training more difficult then disproportioned body weight, for it could cause them to pick up nasty leaning tendencies.

Green eyes eyed the man as he pulled out another kunai.

She no longer complained and he no longer sighed in exasperation. Even though they had no name for what had passed between them; Kakashi knew exactly what it was called, Respect.

He looked down at the two training on the field. His normal reading material put away in his side pack as he watched. When Kakahsi had heard two of his students had gotten sick, he thought he could play hooky. Then he heard from Genma that the older Uchiha had gone to train his pink-haired student; he had dashed to the field.

Now, he now understood all of the boy's odd actions. The interest, the stalking; it was all because he was trying to protect his younger brother. It was very reasonable.

He had nothing to worry about.

In fact, he could use a couple more days off. The man grinned underneath his mask at the thought of a day at the hot springs.

But, he looked back at the two down below him, he doubted he'd really take the days off.

He did not want to miss his student stepping into the adult world, as much as he didn't want it to happen. Maybe it was a good thing the Uchiha had taken over. He enjoyed watching his students remain naive to life. But as a shinobi, they could not remain that way forever.


	6. Of Rabbits, Of Octopuses and Of Loose Sc

Alright, it has been awhile and I am sorry.

First and foremost I am deeply disappointed in this piece for several reasons.

One, the plot seems so cliché and familiar that I am almost scared someone has written this before me, although it's probably the clichéness of it that makes it seem like dejavu . So obviously I claim nothing as my own. If you know an author on this site that has written something significantly familiar to this, please say something!

Two; I am just disappointed in general. I don't really care for the beginning. *Sigh*

Alright onward:

***Thank you all that have alerted and favored. A special thank you for all of those that have reviewed; you have no idea how much I appreciate them. I hope those of you who do like my writing will forgive me for this piece (reasons are above). Thank you for taking the time in reading this chapter! Mustsleep Z.z***

* * *

**Of Rabbits, Of Octopuses and Of Loose Screws**

Itachi watched through narrowed eyes as the girl carefully made her way through the room. Her petite feet dodged the scrolls, books, and writing utensils on the floor, while she held herself with determination of not tipping the plate of dango. He watched in his peripheral vision as she peeped over the mountain of books to look down at him.

Her eyes spilled their secrets to him. There was the raw emotion of fear accompanied only by worry in her quick, furtive glances at his face.

Her slender hands placed the plate upon one of the closed books surrounding him. He turned his gaze from his reading material, to stare directly at her face. At that moment she bowed; her pink hair touching the oak floor as her hands tightened at her sides.

His thoughts wondered about her antics, had he been acting so morose that she felt the need to give in? He had just been contemplating. He was also certain she was more stubborn then that.

She straightened after several moments of silence, emerald met onyx.

"I am sorry." Though oddly enough her voice did not ring with guilt, but in fact, seemed to direct the responsibility at him.

"And what are you apologizing for?" Itachi prodded. He wanted a direct answer from her.

The girl sighed. "I am sorry for yelling at you."

Ah, so she desired to rectify their friendship not the argument itself. Itachi let his head slide into his left hand; a more comfortable position to be in, because this was going to take awhile.

At his silence the girl sighed again, "and for trying to kill you."

"That's not what you should be apologizing for, Sakura."

Her lips twitched and she could feel a pounding headache begin to overcome her. "Yes. It. Is."

"No," Itachi hummed, "it is not."

Silence echoed between them.

Itachi raised his eyebrow, "I am waiting for an acceptable request for forgiveness."

"You're not going to get it," Sakura snapped, her fingers curling into a fist. "People have a right to their own opinion."

"Sakura," Itachi sighed in his 'I-am-a-your-sensei' voice.

"Itachi," Sakura growled.

The green eyes bore into the black depths, even though she knew what kind of torture he could place upon her.

"Tch." Itachi shook his head, "if their opinion is sorely incorrect then they do need to remedy the situation."

"Well," she huffed, drawing her hands to her hips, "if that is the case you should be the one to give the apology."

Itachi gave a smirk at the snarling woman. "Sakura, please, just make this easier on yourself. Admit you were wrong."

Immediately her nose entered the comfort zone around his face. If he hadn't been used to her close 'habits' he might of pulled a Kakashi… or just killed (tortured) the intruder with the sharigan, but he was use to her.

"That would mean you were right, and you are not."

"Ah, but Sakura," Itachi smiled with an eye squint (this caused a vein to almost jump from her forehead), "who was right about the type of poison inside of Naruto when he fell on that old rusty kunai?"

Sakura growled, knowing where this was going.

"Who used the correct seal during our mission to Waterfall?"

Sakura's nose began to twitch.

"Who-"

"I'll admit. You were ingenious in those situations. But," Sakura snarled, "That doesn't apply in this circumstance."

"Really?"

"Look," her nose came even closer to touching his face, "You may be supremely precocious, blessed by birth, in the shinobi way. But I believe you have no understanding about this subject so I suggest that you stop demanding that you are right."

"Sakura, the subject is frivolous and not difficult to understand." Itachi continued to stare directly into her eyes. "So I believe I can demand that I am right and that you owe me an apology."

Her painted nail tapped against his iron chest in accusation. He watched, in high amusement, the range of emotions flickering through her eyes.

"There is something wrong with you," she declared with venom. "There is something wrong with all you, Uchihas," she spat the name, "You are an ignorant, self-centered, power hungry and arrogant lot."

"Sakura," Itachi murmured as if talking to a small child, " there is no reason to bring my family into an argument between the two of us…" The long, dark pony tail fell from his shoulders to his back as he straightened himself, "If we did, they would have sided with me."

"What!" Spit spewed from the angry woman's mouth. "They would have obviously seen a rabbit!"

Itachi wiped the moisture off of his face. "No, they would have known, at first glance, that it was an octopus."

Sakura's fists trembled as she glared down at the sitting, smirking, smart-allic Uchiha. The green eyes narrowed in what Itachi would call 'absolute hatred'. He didn't mind it though; he knew that hatred brewed power. Also there was the fact that this argument would guarantee she would gain some self-confidence, which she sorely lacked.

"There is no way in the world that cloud could be mistaken for an octopus!" Sakura snarled and her sweet smelling breath flew across his face, along with multiple droplets of liquid. "You need your eyes checked Itachi!"

"My vision is perfect, thanks to Tsunade's return to the village. Unless, of course, you believe her healing is inadequate. If that is the case you should bring the matter up with her immediately." Itachi gave the girl a tiny pat on the head, like a dog. "While you're there, get a check-up. I believe you are in dire need of some glasses."

Sakura seethed before him, her mind trying to come up with some form of comeback. Itachi just gave his famous Uchiha smirk, the one that deemed he had made the final and last move on the shouji board.

"You got a screw loose, Itachi Uchiha, it was a rabbit!" With that she fled from the room, still fuming.

Itachi silently chuckled as he picked up his stick of dango. She was right; he definitely had a screw loose.

He hadn't been watching the clouds at all. Something far more delicate, flighty and pastel pink had been the center of his attention that day.

He bit down on the soft sweet, savoring the pastry's flavor.

He had been in deep thought, provoked by the gentle fluttering. In fact, he hadn't even noticed what cloud she was pointing at.

The butterfly had been beautiful; stretching its wings on his right hand, where Sakura hadn't been able to see it. It was a eurtides ariarathes, a species which lived across the ocean. The question of how it had gotten to his right hand had caused the upsetting thoughts. How it could survive so far from home, in an environment that was abhorred to it still evaded him.

She had pointed and he had replied about another animal he had seen out of its regular environment once before in Whirlpool. The creature had been an octopus.

Sighing Itachi ate another one of the soft dough spheres. The butterfly had taken off after that, but it had left far too many questions in its wake.

But that wasn't all it left.

His attention went directly to the person beside him. The pink hair flutter in the wind as her green eyes stared down at him.

She was just like the butterfly, in an environment where someone of her innocence should not exist. She belonged somewhere things were more emotionally acceptable, where she would not have to view death in her work, where she could laugh and play like a child.

For the longest time he wanted to take the innocence away, crush it, because it did not belong in this world. He was right, to a point.

It did not belong. But that did not mean it couldn't survive. The butterfly had.

He watched the girl as she declared several times he was blind as a bat.

She needed to be taught how to survive, that was certain, but there must be a way to keep the innocence intact as well.

Itachi let a smile slip onto his features as he declared her intellect was over-exaggerated by other people because of her forehead.

As he dodged her blows, he knew that she was still a growing child that deserved to yell and have juvenile arguments. A child needed to be able to have such moments because that was how they grew to interact with the world around them. All the lessons a child learned continued on and became useful to them later in life.

It would be a challenge, he had decided as she chased him around the field, but it would be well worth the effort. Innocence was something hard to keep, a treasure. It was a satisfying prize because others did not have it.

Of course that wasn't the only thing the butterfly had left in its wake.

Itachi also came to the realization that black and pink looked beautiful together.

It made him wonder if Sakura would ever dump the red, ostentatious uniform for a more blend-in-able color, namely black. When he apologized to her tomorrow he would make sure to bring it up casually, if he remembered correctly, his mother said that woman were particular about comments on their clothing.

He ate the last piece of dango and his mind returned to the cloud gazing. He wondered what the cloud had actually resembled. It had probably been a rabbit, Itachi sighed.

He could not dwell on it any longer. He had a woman's future to plan and an appropriate apology gift to find….maybe black clothing would make a good gift?


	7. Sleeping or the lack there of…

***Sorry this update is late, please forgive me and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I don't own anything. Thank you to all who reviewed on the last chapter, I'm glad some people enjoyed it… Anyways, thanks again for taking the time to read my work. Mustsleep Z.z***

**Sleeping or the lack there of…**

Itachi was unaware that there was a problem.

So when Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto shoved Sakura into his hotel room; he became slightly perplexed. This was due to the fact that Itachi assumed that Kakashi would have stolen the couch to get away from his genin team, who hadn't stopped bickering for the last few months during their mission. Instead he found a shy, sheepish looking girl; who was fiddling with her long hair, which needed to be cut in his opinion.

Itachi wanted to just ignore her and go to the soft comfy bed in the next room but Mikoto raised him better, probably just to make him suffer. He was a 'gentleman' and gentlemen always offer the ladies, even massively immature ones, the most comfortable sleeping position. In this location that would be the soft bed in the next room.

Pinching the side of his hip, he reminded himself that even though they were in a shinobi situation she was still, at least, female and deserved certain respects because of that. Almost letting out a sigh, Itachi straightened.

"Would you like to have the bed?"

Her reply was a blank, but confused stare. Was his brother not being a gentleman? If that were the case he was sure to endure a lecture from Mikoto. Or maybe she wasn't even expecting an offer? Then perhaps the lecture would fall to Kakashi. A small tilt of his lips portrayed his amusement. Whatever the case may be, Mikoto was going to have some fun when they got back; which meant he would be off the hook for the shopping faire next weekend. No doubt the woman would teach the male true manners, which included holding bags for a lady for a whole day.

Itachi shook his head as he returned to the problem at hand. The girl had yet to answer, seeing as she continued to watch him with wide eyes. He decided he best re-word the question.

"Would you like for me to take the couch?"

There was no change in the girl's position, almost like her mind hadn't even come to the conclusion that he had spoken. Sighing, Itachi walked forward, stopping in front of the green eyed girl. He waved his hand in front of her face, nothing changed.

The man could feel the trepidation that he was going to have to shake her to get her out of whatever trance like state she was in. After several moments he sighed, yep. He grabbed her shoulders and gave a good shake. "Sakura."

The girl blinked. "Ah…" she then squished her eyes, which made a bug squeaking sound, with two fists before looking up at him.

"The couch is fine…"She murmured slowly as though in a dream.

As much as the gentleman inside of him wanted to persist that she take the bed, Itachi just nodded. "Alright."

The bed was his. The comfy heaven awaiting him in the next room almost made him dash for the bedroom door.

"I'm sorry." The girl whimpered.

Itachi turned confused; did she now want the bed? Desperately, he hoped not.

"For what?"

"Ah…umm…" The girl began to nibble on her lower lip. A very disgusting habit, he noticed, that usually left them dry and cracked.

"I…umm…"

The older man was beginning to wonder if the girl could even speak a coherent sentence. Did she get hit in the head by one of the bandits that attacked the caravan? No… not unless she breached protocol and did not tell him. Perhaps she was just tired. That Itachi could understand. At the moment he was barely standing. During the months Itachi had taken more than just his shift. He doubted the genins' abilities, so he made sure to stay awake during their watches as well. He knew the minute he closed his eyes they would too. Five months with very little sleep had left his thought process a little unsound also, which was why he wanted to snap out and hit the wall and demand that the girl either speak or shut her mouth. The girl was treading over his precious and short sleeping time.

"Sakura," he sighed, "please…"

"Oh…" the girl said finally catching onto the death waves that seemed to emanating from the man in front of her. She quickly, then, began to talk. "My sleeping medication has run out."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that nins were allowed sleeping medication. He knew that all shinobi's were required to be at the optimum level of performance, which meant being able to wake up at a moment's notice. Itachi shook his head, deciding he was too tired to think straight; he'd reflect upon the recent information tomorrow. Now, he needed to continue his journey to the bedroom before he passed out on the floor. Yes, the nice, soft, fluffy bed demanded his attention. He raised his hand in farewell as he turned and continued his way to the bedroom.

"I hope you are able to get some sleep. Try asking the innkeeper for some warm milk." Itachi grabbed the handle of the door. "Good night."

The door shut before the girl could protest or demand to switch sleeping arrangements.

"But…" Sakura stared at the door, not really speaking to anyone. "That's not what I meant."

Quietly Sakura began to arrange her sleeping roll and pillow on the couch. Slipping into her pajamas the girl quietly hoped that tonight wouldn't be too bad, not that she would be aware of it. But, just in case, Sakura began to take all the objects off the counters and onto the floor.

After making good use of the bathroom, Sakura finally rested her head on the pillow. Slowly, but surely, she began to drift off. Her head shifting up, her hair falling to frame her face, her eyes completely closed; her mouth then opened.

The Uchiha had trained his body well, at least in his opinion. Itachi had trained endlessly, with the help of Shisui, to train his body to wake up correctly given a particular circumstance. Of course, the only down fall to his training was that two boys can only be so creative. So all the preparation in the world would not have prepared Itachi for what was about to wake him, because Itachi would have never thought of the situation; even though he should have.

His body had no idea what to do when the bombs started going off.

It happened all at once, the loud noise, the walls vibrating and cracking followed by the aftershock which caused more vibrating and cracking. The first thing Itachi opened his eyes to was the ceiling, then, shortly thereafter, the wooden floor. Immediately he was up, kunai and throwing stars in hand. Then another one went off. The windows rattled and the earth shook beneath him. The red, swirling sharingan appeared.

The man's mind was quickly running through simulations he had heard of, seen, or read; trying to determine how much time they had until the building collapsed. They were obviously under attack; but for what reason he was unsure. Another went off.

They seemed to be timed which meant someone had taken the time to set them up. This could mean that the enemy was one or a hundred plus. Itachi didn't like not being able to count how many people wanted his blood.

The entire ceiling rattled above Itachi's head. He idly wondered if his brother would be ok, but then he was with the famous copy-nin; hopefully the man wasn't in a good part of his book.

Shaking his head, the man began to plan.

He needed to make sure the team was safe, he was captain after all. This meant he needed to remove Sakura from the vicinity first, and then return to find the other three members. The world shook again. No, it was best if he took the girl with him. He didn't know how many enemies they were fighting, so they could be waiting to ambush them outside of the vicinity.

He needed to be fast, he didn't know how long the building would hold.

Itachi burst through the door of to the living room. Itachi swore as the rattling became louder and more intense. No doubt the bombs were going off by room and getting closer by the second. He needed to get both of them out and hope that Kakashi would be smart enough (or aware enough) to get out the other two genin.

Itachi made his way to the couch right after another bomb went off.

"Sakura we need-" Everything in Itachi's mind stopped as he became aware that he was staring at another obstacle he hadn't planned for.

The female was still asleep as though there were no bombs going off. She, in fact, looked peaceful; her eyes closed and hands resting at her sides.

The inn keepers must have drugged the milk. Itachi's mouth twitched he rarely misjudged peoples characters. He wondered if they got to the food as well. Wiggling his fingers, Itachi decided it must have been a common antiseptic. Itachi wanted to puff his chest proudly for being mostly immune to normal dosages, getting out of the hospital had been a priority at the time but who knew there was added benefits. Knowing Kakashi had perfected such escapes to an art, he knew his brother was in good hands, which left him the girl.

Itachi grabbed the girl, pulling her into his arms and against his hip like he would a small child. Dully Itachi noticed that she was a tad bit heavier then what her petite frame lead him to believe. He was about to throw her over his back…

Then she opened her mouth and the anbu operative experienced pain like never before.

It wasn't just loud, although his eardrum broke against the sound wave. Being loud would not have been such an issue. The fact was that when she breathed in the entire right side of his face almost came off, was the problem. With his right eardrum broke and the right side of his face's skin almost coming off, Itachi subconsciously reacted.

The petite female's body went flying through the air. Over the couch, away from Itachi, she smashed against the wall with a loud thump. Several kunai followed but quickly Itachi realized his mistake and sent two other kunai to divert the others to a different location from the girl's slumped the body.

The loud noise ended, leaving the room in eerie silence.

Several minutes passed before a small voice broke it. "Ouch…"

Ouch was correct in Itachi's opinion. His entire face still felt like someone had tried to skin it. There was also the fact he was trying to stop the flow of blood from his ear drum, while trying to stay up right, while patting the right side of his face to make sure it was still there.

Itachi was grateful for taking the time to learn some lesser healing techniques. Ears were extremely important for balance, so he made sure he understood their inner workings. Healing chakra pulsated through his fingers as he quickly tried to undo the damage the girl had done to him.

The said girl rose from the floor. Cautiously she looked around the room, confused as to how she ended up in this predicament of being on the floor when she was sure that she had fallen asleep on the couch. Also there was pain in her entire back like she had rolled off and onto the floor. But if that were the case, how did she get several meters away from the couch?

That is when she noticed Itachi.

Then she noticed the blood on his hands.

That's when she realized it had been a bad night.

Slowly she made her way to the man who had, by now, taken off his shirt to wipe the blood from his hands, neck, face and ear.

"Are you ok?" Sakura quietly asked as she made her way around the couch. She began to notice he was touching his face a lot, like a child playing with his lip after the dentist had numbed it.

Itachi's eyes flickered to the young girl. "Yes, and you?"

Sakura cracked her back. "Ok…"

Sakura took a good look around the room. Noting multiple stray kunai dispersed and buried into the walls of the hotel room, Sakura knew that things had been really bad. It looked worse than when Kakashi had first happened upon one of her non-medicated nights.

"When you give warnings…" Itachi glanced over at the girl, who was shrinking backward. "Please be straight forward."

"Without my medication my snores are really bad."

"Thank you," Itachi's lips twitched, "that is good to know."

"Yeah…" Sakura gave a yawn.

"How do we get them to be not 'bad' without your medication?" Itachi still needed sleep now that his adrenalin rush was fading.

"Well," Sakura tapped her lip. "I usually sleep with either Naruto or Sasuke and they make sure I sleep on my side. They say it makes it much more tolerable."

Itachi didn't like that idea. There was no way that girl was getting anywhere near his face, ever again. "Can you not sleep on your side without someone else?"

"I flip," Sakura told him as she began to knaw on her lip, "then it gets bad."

"Ah." The problem could be easily rectified.

Itachi walked out of the hotel room, down to the room where three other shinobi's rested. He tugged at the handle. Locked. Then his eyes looked up, there was a sign. 'Yours for one night only!' it read followed by one of those annoying smiley faces except for the fact it had only one eye with a slash mark where the left one would be located, as well as crudely drawn, spiky hair.

Itachi sighed in defeat; he should just demand they opened the door. But he doubted the copy-nin had just gone straight to bed. No doubt the front door was wired and he was tired. He would have to deal with the girl himself. He returned to his room.

The girl was still standing where he left her.

"Alright," he motioned for her to follow him, "Only for tonight."

"What about the kunai in the walls?" Sakura asked curiously.

Itachi wanted to face palm. "I'll deal with it tomorrow." The man then sighed as he admitted defeat to the girl. "I need to get some sleep."

The man situated himself on top of the covers when he realized the girl had yet to follow him. It was that blank look again.

"What is the problem?" he demanded.

"You a…" she pointed, "You don't have a shirt on…."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You've never seen a man without a shirt on?"

"I've seen a man with a shirt off," Sakura huffed while turning tomato red.

Sighing, Itachi realized the problem. Slowly, he began to get up.

"No, it's ok…" Sakura murmured as fell into bed beside him.

Immediately Itachi and Sakura realized that the sleeping positions that Sasuke and Naruto used were not going to happen. Itachi wasn't letting the girl anywhere near his face.

So in the awkward end, Sakura ended up sleeping diagonally across the bed to his chest with his arms locking her in place on her side.

"Itachi?" Sakura yawned right before nodding off.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about your face…."

"It's fine, Sakura, just go to bed."

If only he knew what she meant by that….

"What the heck happened to your face Itachi!" Naruto exclaimed as they met in the hallway. "Looks like you got a hicky from one of those huge octopuses from one of those scary movies! I mean it covers like the entire right side of your face! What the heck did you do?"

The young man sighed, dragging his hand through his hair. He was probably never going to live it down. It was a good thing he made good henges, because he knew his cousin would most likely run into him before he got to Tsunade.

The dinner at the Uchihas was relatively quiet; it was nice to be away from the noise. Itachi and Sasuke were relishing in the silence, that is, until Mikoto decided to speak.

"The shopping faire is tomorrow!" the woman chirped brightly. "Which gentleman would love to escort me?"

Immediately Fugaku coughed, "Sorry I have a long clan meeting with the elders tomorrow."

Itachi wanted to sigh with relief, "Yes, I need to be at the meeting as well."

"No, you don't, Itachi," Sasuke smiled, "I'm sure dad can handle it."

So his brother was going to throw him to the dogs. Well two could play at that game.

"Speaking of gentlemen," Itachi turned to his brother, "Sakura seemed very surprised when I offered her the bed. Do you guys not allow the lady the most comfortable sleeping arrangement?"

Mikoto's mouth dropped open in disbelief; that her angel, her darling little baby, could possibly not be a gentleman.

Sasuke's smirk became more pronounced. "Well, at least we make an effort not to throw poor, unsuspecting konouchi at walls when they are asleep."

Silence echoed in the head household.

Itachi's lips twitched, his brother had him there.

"I guess we'll invite Sakura to come with us, that way both of you have someone to hold bags for, "Mikoto smiled, "Sasuke, you can carry mine. Itachi, you can carry Sakura's." If anything, tomorrow would be a very exciting and enjoyable day for the matriarch.


	8. Contentment

Chapter… umm 8? (I should probably check)

**Contentment**

The world is a place of mystery, the Uchiha thought dully as he stared out into his parents' garden. The world outside seemed cold due to the tones of blue in the air, the rain falling down in waves and by the way the mist seemed to rise from the ground then disperse into the air; which was of course an insane thought. Insanity was one of the few things that scared him. Insanity meant that the person did not act in a reasonable fashion. Itachi lived on predicting the reasonable; which meant anything outside of the reasonable confused him to no end. He didn't like being confused, being confused was a weakness he could not afford.

The red swirling eyes watched the green leaves lean over and drip out water. He could see the tiniest movement in the trees telling him that the air was not stagnant. That was a good thing in his opinion. Movement was reasonable, stillness was just like insanity. Breathing in deeply, the heir looked down at the still bundle wrapped around him. Well perhaps not so still. He could feel the tiny heart beat pounding, its tight grip around his body, and its gentle, warm breath through his shirt. But she had stilled from her earlier terror.

Itachi quietly rested his hands on the petite back and silently began to rub. Human contact somehow seemed to settle down and calm the pain of another, why? Itachi didn't know because he didn't understand such insanity.

"It will be alright," he murmured rhetorically. The truth was he hated those words, because they were most likely spoken to be untrue. But he wouldn't retract the phrase from the calming body before him. She needed something.

He could feel her tighten her grip and tuck herself in closer to his body. He wondered what exactly set her off. He knew she was highly emotional person, but her flight into his arms had been…very unexpected. He thought she had other people she could go to like a best friend, a close family member, her teammates, or even Kakashi for that matter. Although it was doubtful she would be able to find the latter.

She hadn't even knocked. She had just burst into his parents' house like she was their child (she almost was in Mikoto's opinion) and then flew open the door to his bedroom. He didn't even know how she was aware he was even in. He had been overlooking the garden outside, through an open doorway, only to turn and find a young girl bursting into tears in his door way.

He had cocked his head to the side in question, which seemed to give her permission to run immediately into his arms. And there she stayed and wouldn't let go, crying her eyes out. Finally he got them both to sit, so he was still able to enjoy the view of the yard.

The wind gave one hefty blow and the rain came down in loud sheets. The sound seemed to break the girl from her somber silence. She straightened up in his arms, her grip loosening but still not letting go. She stopped when her face was just inches from his.

The tears had turned her cheeks red and had made her eyes puffy. Her hair seemed to have become a frizzy mess, due to the weather most likely, but more than that she looked tired. She looked exhausted in his eyes. He let his arms fall to his sides as he waited for her to speak.

Her green eyes closed and she fell forward into his neck, her grip once again tightening. There he heard her muffled, croaky voice speak.

"Your brother is an idiot."

Itachi dipped his head so his chin rested lightly on her frizzy pink hair. Yes, if he had scrutinized the situation scrupulously he would have undoubtly come to the conclusion his brother had something to do with it. He wondered what exactly his brother had done, but he knew such inquiries would possibly cause her to 'spring a leak' and he doubted she had much more water to spare.

"Ah…" he agreed not knowing what else to say.

"I mean," she shifted back, "he's a complete dumb^-^."

Her green eyes glinted in anger and he could feel her little hands form fists. Her eyes stared directly into his. "Why didn't you teach him better?"

Itachi could barely contain his laughter as he watched her face change from anger to pouting defiance. She was back to being reasonable, well, to being predictable.

"Sometimes the teacher must step back and allow the student to become their own person…" Itachi turned his head to look outside. The rain had stopped, yet the ground was still soaked.

The girl's lips pulled into a sad smile. "Or maybe you're just a bad teacher."

Itachi turned his attention back to the pink haired girl. He gave one of his wicked smirks, "Even the best teacher cannot make an unwilling student learn."

"Ah."Sakura's face dropped, reluctant to continue the argument. She sighed, her green eyes changing direction to the outside world.

Itachi let his smile drop as well. He straightened himself against the wall then looked out into the garden as well.

"The rain's finally stopped," she murmured, once again she resting her head against his chest.

"Hn." He answered, it had stopped awhile ago.

"It looks like it's going to pour again," She continued as she eyed the dark clouds.

"Yes, I believe there will be lightning as well tonight." Itachi rested his arms back around her as they felt awkward at his sides.

"How do you know?" Her eyes narrowed scrutinizing the sky above, looking for a foretelling sign.

"The air, it's thick."

One of her fists released his shirt and she pulled it out of his loose hug. Slowly and dramatically she dragged it in the outside air. Quietly she put her hand back in place and several moments passed.

"Doesn't feel thick…"

He gave a low chuckle. "Breathe it in."

She gave an emphasized breath then started choking on air.

"See?" That earned him a hit on the back.

"Whatever…" She muttered tightening her grip again. "I just hope it comes quickly and lasts all night."

"Why?"

"Tonight's the autumn festival."

"Ah." That is where his parents were tonight, he had begun to wonder.

"I mean I understand that he likes his space. I understand he hates fangirls. I even get the fact that I'll probably be nothing to him but a stupid girl on his stupid genin team. I even understand that there is absolutely nothing I can do to grab his attention…" she pulled herself in closer to his chest.

Listlessly, Itachi was getting that she was probably talking about his little brother. He knew he should probably make some sound but agreeing with her or disagreeing with her was probably one of those conundrums his father talked about. Where either answers would get him in trouble. While he had watched his father ice his rather puffy face, the man had said that it was best to not speak in such situations. So, Itachi just patted the young girl on the back.

"I mean I know I'm not as pretty as Ino. Does that mean that she has to shove it in my face?"

Why did the name Ino sound familiar, Itachi wondered.

"No! I got it when she literally dragged him into the kimono shop!"

Ah, yes, that was what Sasuke had called the scary lady with blonde hair that stole him away the other day.

"I can't believe how crude she was!"

Yes, the girl had been a tad bit on the rude side as she had barged in on a rare brotherly outing.

"That conniving little witch! To think I was actually her friend!"

Itachi nodded, she probably wasn't a good influence.

"I mean what friend rubs that she's prettier than you in your face!" the tiny petite roared into Itachi's face as she had once again sat up to glare at him.

Slowly, Itachi was coming to the conclusion that Sasuke wasn't the one she was really mad at. Then again, it could be a girl thing…

Suddenly the girl's anger failed. "I'm just going to be an ugly, stupid, little girl forever, huh?"

This time her eyes were on him and they expected him to answer.

"No…" Itachi quickly gave her the exact truth. "Eventually you'll hit puberty and become a woman."

A small smile appeared on her lips. She rested her forehead against his.

Itachi soon became nervous, he had said something wrong; now she was in very close contact. Itachi preferred to be to be at least arms length away from an opponent.

"So I'm just going to be an ugly, stupid, little woman."

Oh… It hit Itachi like a fist. She was concerned about beauty, intelligence and height. The man sighed. He grabbed her gently by the shoulders and put space between their heads. She took the hint and crawled off his lap. Slowly, she positioned herself so she was sitting across from him.

"For starters, Sakura, you are not ugly. Unique is the word you are looking for…I believe. Second, you are highly intelligent in comparison to many your age, such as Sasuke and Naruto. The Nara kid is an exception and I believe that you did very well in the last match you had against him. Third, little is not a bad thing. From what I have heard, on the area of relationships, men prefer woman that are shorter than themselves," Itachi quickly finished; another woman should be talking to this girl. This was just awkward coming from a guy.

From the look on Sakura's face she was thinking the same thing. Her pale, puffy cheeks turned… well, her entire face turned a tomato red and Itachi was sure that Sasuke might actually find it appealing. Her eyes darted to everywhere but him. Finally she stopped and took a deep breath, then stared him in the eyes.

"You're not pulling my strings right?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Strings? I was unaware that I pulled your hair…"

Sakura face palmed. "Are you being truthful?"

"Yes."

Sakura looked up, her green eyes beaming. "Thanks."

Itachi shrugged. Then he saw the flash out of the corner of his eye and noticed she did not. This would be interesting…

At the rumbling, the girl was back in his arms, having jumped several feet in the air and several feet forward. The girl's face was priceless in Itachi's mind. Her eyes had dilated till there was almost no more green to be found. Then quickly she realized what she had done and where she was. Embarrassment quickly colored her face.

"Sorry!"

Itachi just smirked, that wasn't the only surprise she was in for.

Immediately the door to his bedroom was opened with the familiar voice of his brother.

"Aniki, have you seen Sa-" His brother's eyes went wide and his mouth began to hang slightly ajar.

"Speak, idiot!" the obnoxious blonde boy snarled from behind. "Are you going to ask your brother or not?"

Naruto knocked Sasuke aside only to be met with the surprising sight. Except, he had more tact…

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OUR SAKURA!"

Itachi wanted to reply that he technically wasn't touching Sakura, she was touching him; but he doubted it would matter.

Quickly Sakura located herself to a distant standing position from Itachi. "Look guys-" the girl stumbled trying to find the correct words.

Itachi smiled, seeing a way to make the situation worse. Slowly the man rose as the girl began to stutter about it being an accident.

Swiftly, the man closed the distance between him in the pink haired girl. Then he, promptly, gave her a kiss on the top of her head. The blond boy's mouth was now two fist lengths wide… and his little brother's wider.

"Have fun at the autumn festival," the man told the three as his smile grew more pronounced. Then, just as the blonde and pinkette were about to regain their composure, he transported to the roof.

There he listened to the sweet yelling and bickering of the children below. Lying on the roof, Itachi felt the tiny sprinkles of rain graze his face. Itachi sighed with contentment.

***** (Today it's at the end!)*****

***I don't own anything. I appreciate your reviews (more then you know) and thank you all who have reviewed. Why is it at the end? Well, I would like to say what inspired the last part of this chapter. The song was "More than this"-by Vannessa Carlton. She is a beautiful singer O.o I kid you not she's amazing. The specific words: "as you lean in to steal a kiss, I'll never need more than this."

Also I have a poll going on which I would appreciate if people would vote on because I think I may start another story, ItaSaku of course… (A more story-ish one) but please don't feel obligated to participate… My curiosity is just starving and I hope it gets satisfied.

Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed.

MustsleepZ.z***


	9. Thorough Explanations

** Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto characters!

_I am so sorry this is late, REALLY LATE! Usually I come up with some bizarre idea but the writing fairy didn't visit so you're stuck with a sequel to ch 8. Contentment: aka Ch 9. Thorough Explanations (a chapter I'm kinda iffy on…) _

_A special thanks to all of you that have reviewed, I really do appreciate them. _

_Well thanks for taking the time to read this chapter… So on ward! Mustsleep Z.z ***_

**Thorough Explanations **

Itachi let out a light groan as he moved one foot out from under the blanket only to notice that the floor was cold. Sighing, the man rose. One quick glance at the outside door revealed darkness, the sun had yet to rise. If there was one thing that Itachi wasn't, it was a morning person. Most nights he stayed up into the early morning hours due to reading, training, or writing his mission reports. He blamed his mind; it never wished to sleep.

So why was he, after getting only two hours of sleep, up so early? Three explanations could possibly answer the question as to why the man would rise before the sun. The most prominent one was the fact that he had made plans, which consisted of training with some of the more tolerable people in his life at the moment. Usually the man was classified under the word most 'interesting person' but due to some recent incidents he had become one of the most tolerable. Of course, the man was still the most interesting person because the word 'interesting' was better suited for Itachi's elder cousin than anything else. Knowing Shisui would come and wake him up, in a very awkward and un-Uchiha like manor, Itachi had no choice but to rise quickly and leave.

The second reason was logical but not necessarily as worrisome as a mischievous Shisui. His darling, little brother was still upset about the small incident during the autumn festival. Yes, maybe he over did it just a tad bit. Well, maybe more than just a tad. His brother had rarely met his gaze and when he did he glared; not noticing the way it wounded his older brother. The blond loud mouth snarled at each of his passings but self-preservation kept the boy from trying to start a fight. The tiny petite female… She had stomped into the Uchiha training grounds demanding an explanation while slapping him across the face. Well, tried to slap him across the face. To say that she had been upset about the log would have been an understatement. Obviously Itachi was not surprised at her outbreak; he knew underneath the cloy outer layer rested a choleric young woman.

Quietly, the Uchiha heir dressed for training; not wanting anyone to notice he had awakened. This brought across number three, perhaps the most annoying of them all. Having Mikoto following him all day was starting to become… dare he say it… troublesome. For some reason she seemed to think he had actually 'fallen' for Sasuke's teammate. The thought was utterly ridiculous. She was his little brother's friend, several years his younger. Besides, it was just a peck on the forehead.

He was now starting to regret it. The action had given him nothing but trouble since his amusement had died down. At least he now understood Shisui better. No one seemed to be able to take an Uchiha's play; it was no wonder the man was so misunderstood.

Softly, Itachi made his way outside and then padded his way along the wooden porch to his brother's quarters. He drifted his way in after sliding the door open in silence. The stern expression softened as the ANBU operative looked down upon his little brother. Letting out a rare smile, Itachi drifted closer to the steadily breathing body. The boy still couldn't sense his presence, but he was still a genin; he had time to grow up.

Kneeling, Itachi brushed away hair that had fallen over the boy's face. A quick peck on the forehead and Itachi stood, beginning to back away from the sleeping form.

"Sleep well, little brother," Itachi murmured turning.

A form stood in the doorway. Problem number three…

The woman stepped back, allowing him to step out. He sighed mentally, before he shut the door without making a sound.

Surprisingly, the woman just held out a small cup which was full of a steaming liquid. Leaning against the wall Mikoto smiled as she watched her son drink the tea.

"I think I understand it now…" She murmured after they had stood in peaceful silence for several minutes.

Itachi lowered the cup. "Understand what?"

Mikoto smiled gently, not in her usual mischievous smirk. The woman shook her head, not answering his question. Quietly, she took the empty glass from his hands.

"You best meet up with Shisui."

Itachi nodded his head, glad to get away from the lady who, for the past week, had bombarded him with questions.

"Oh."

Itachi stopped in his tracks and turned back to the woman.

"I would keep the playing with him to a minimum." The mischievous smirk was back. "His odd sense of humor is starting to rub off on you."

Itachi gave a quiet chuckle, thankful to know his mother had finally caught on.

Her hand reached up and touched his shoulder. "But…" she barely whispered, drawing herself upward towards his ear. "I wouldn't mind you being with Sakura…"With that she gave him a quick peck on the forehead, just like he had done to his brother, before leaving.

Itachi watched her retreating form before remembering he had someplace to be, namely; problem one.

Mikoto set the glass in the kitchen sink before filling the kettle with more water. Smiling, the woman portrayed how happy she was by humming. Her son was falling for Sakura; he just didn't know it yet. Soon everything would be in place and she would no longer have to care for the old geezers. But for now she needed to speak with Sasuke. Itachi had finally broken down a wall in showing emotion to someone outside of the Uchiha family and being punished by his brother would be a sure way of it never happening again.

The kettle bubbled; not whistled because having a whistling kettle in a house full of shinobi was a sure way to get killed. She pulled out two cups and then poured green tea into them. Closing her eyes she could hear a door sliding open. Mikoto smirked; her skills were still up to par.

"Good morning." Mikoto addressed her youngest son as she placed two cups on the table.

Sasuke gave a dazed look while rubbing his eyes.

"Take a seat and come sit with your mother." Inwardly Mikoto grinned, it was sad how often she played the mother card but it never failed to work.

Sasuke only nodded his mind too fuzzy to really make sense of the world around him. He followed her orders, taking the seat across from her.

Mikoto waited patiently for the boy to pick up the cup and take a drink. Then she smiled, now was the opportune moment to break the comfortable silence. "There's something I would like to talk to you about."

Sasuke choked on the hot liquid in his mouth; no good ever came from those words. Now he fully awake and giving her his undivided attention.

"What exactly happened between you and your brother?" She, of course, already knew; she had forced Itachi to spill all of the details, which made her slightly anxious about how well ANBU were trained now-and-days.

Sasuke's eyebrows bunched together in anger and the hand gripping the cup tightened its hold.

"Sasuke." Mikoto tilted her head to the side expecting an answer.

"He gave Sakura a kiss."Sasuke growled.

Mikoto faked surprise, "A kiss?"

Sasuke nodded while grinding his teeth together.

"Right. On. The. Lips?" The mother asked, her mouth open with an 'oh', as she led the boy to the mouse trap with cheese.

Sasuke blinked and then blinked again, then shivered. Suddenly the thought occurred to him that what his brother had done probably wasn't as bad as the visual images he now had.

"No. It was on the forehead."

Mikoto closed her mouth, hiding a smile. "Like the ones Itachi and I give you?" Mikoto reinforced her point by leaning over and kissing Sasuke on the forehead right where Itachi had earlier in the morning.

"Ah…" Sasuke trailed off his eyes narrowing in confusion.

Mikoto wanted to sigh in exasperation, why were her children so dense when it came to social encounters. They definitely were their father's sons… No doubt his genes ran deep in them both.

"Hmm," Mikoto murmured; pursing her lips as she pretended to be in thought. "It's almost as though he's treating her like another Uchiha…" She trailed off hoping her son would get the point.

"Oh…" Sasuke paused. His eyes widened in surprise as her explanation finally sunk in, and then a strange glint crossed the dark orbs.

Mikoto wanted to giggle. Her little boy was now jealous of his pink haired teammate because of a peck on the forehead.

* * *

The wind whipped at Itachi's hair, causing some of the raven strands to slip from the low ponytail. Paying no heed to the loose wisps of black, Itachi continued on with his quick pace to the training grounds. His mouth in a firm line; he was running late and he hated being late.

It seemed that Shisui wasn't the only one desiring a spare, Itachi noted with a frown as he got closer to the designated meeting area. The way his elder cousin's chakra, which was normally in check, was flaring in an alarming rate meant only one thing; someone was giving him trouble. There was no use in the Uchiha prodigy to quicken his pace; because he knew that most of the time his elder cousin brought it upon himself. Not only that, but the abnormal Uchiha usually could take care at himself. But Itachi was curious; usually Shisui was a rather mellow character and it took some effort to grate on his nerves; not that Itachi ever had.

Dark onyx eyes scanned the open field eventually resting upon the three figures. Shisui stood facing two other men, of whom Itachi could easily identify by the back of their heads. Itachi's eyes narrowed in calculation. He could leave, letting his cousin take the blunt blow of their anger which would allow Itachi to escape unscathed, or he could stay and confront the problem before it got out of hand.

Shisui's chakra flared once again as the spiky haired man snarled something to the two men that was too low for Itachi to hear. By now Itachi could see Shisui was seriously upset; his elder cousin had subconsciously begun to pull back his upper lip allowing his white teeth to show. The man was so distracted that he hadn't even noticed Itachi had entered the field.

Knowing it was probably best to intersect before it got worse; Itachi cleared his throat, which gained him the attention of the three men.

"Kakashi, Genma," Itachi nodded to each of the men as he said their name, "What do I owe the pleasure?"

The copy-nin's one eyes narrowed dangerously, it seemed Shisui wasn't the only one upset. In fact, it was quiet clear the copy-nin was angry by the way he was no longer slouching but standing up straight.

Itachi raised an eyes brow in question which seemed to anger the senbon user as the metal piece in his mouth began to go from side to side.

"You over stepped your boundaries." Kakashi's voiced trailed out in a bored tone before Genma could open his mouth to speak.

It would seem the entire world couldn't take a joke, Itachi thought with a mental sigh. The only amusing thing about the entire situation was the irony. The irony was the fact that the two biggest perverts in the village (excluding the toad sannin) were the ones to give him a lesson in boundaries.

"Haha," Shisui spouted sarcastically, "Itachi over stepping boundaries sounds like a load of bull to me."Immediately Itachi realized Shisui was more than just a little upset. "Now, get out of here before I call the guards."

"Sorry, not this time Shi," Genma sighed casting a sorrowful expression to his long time drinking buddy.

This only made the normally calm Uchiha more irritated. "No one," His voice snarled," threatens my baby cousin. Got. It." The body-flicker poked Genma in the chest in warning.

It clicked for Itachi; he had forgotten about Shisui's protective side, it had been a long time since he'd seen it and only then it had been once. At age eleven he had gone before the council and it had been the first time he had ever heard his elder cousin yell in anger as he defended Itachi from the elders.

Itachi cleared his throat. The memory of Shisui holding a kunai to his great grandfather's throat was etched in his mind; it was time to stop it before things got out of hand. "I'm sure this is just a big misunderstanding. I highly doubt these two plan on seriously injuring me." Itachi murmured, treading carefully as he spoke to his angry cousin.

Of course, reading the killing intent aura around the usual lazy copy-nin and cat-calling anbu operative; there was no doubt they planned to do more than just injure the prodigy.

"Well, maybe you should inform me of this misunderstanding…" the grey haired man growled out, clearly not amused.

The genius's mind began to turn; trying to find a way out of the situation. The copy-nin would be a difficult fight, not to mention expensive for the compound, and being aided by Genma clearly was a situation that a sane person knew better to be in. Something then clicked in the back of Itachi's mind about the conversation he had over tea. Silently, Itachi thanked his mother.

"I've clearly been hanging around Shisui for too long…"

The said man raised an eyebrow in suspicion, irritated that Itachi was trying to pull something off on him. It took two seconds before the senbon user got the implication.

The man burst into laughter removing the piece of metal in his mouth as he clapped the young male on the back. "Clearly!" The man laughed so hard tears began to form in his eyes, the killing intent vanishing into thin air. The anbu operative then proceeded to grab Kakashi, who hadn't gotten it, by his green vest to drag him away.

"Come one," the senbon user snickered, "we're not needed." Genma burst into laughter again as though the whole situation was the best joke in the world.

Slowly, Kakashi followed Genma off the field while giving Itachi one last glare in warning.

"Oh," Genma called out catching the two Uchiha's attention. "Shisui stop rubbing off on people, you're going to give me an ulcer!" He began to then chuckle something along the lines of 'thought I was going to have to fight an anbu captain' which ended in relief filled laughter.

As the sounds of Genma's outburst trailed outside of the Uchiha compound gates Shisui turned his narrow slitted gaze to his younger cousin. Red tints informed Itachi that Shisui was still, indeed, upset.

"Now darling, baby cousin," Shisui's voice, creeping with spitfire sarcasm, began. "What exactly did you get into?"

Itachi gave a loud vocalized sigh, knowing the man before him would not rest before he got a thorough explanation.

The kiss on the forehead _almost_ wasn't worth it… Actually, the thought of doing it again would never have crossed Itachi's mind had the young female not tasted like strawberries.

Then another thought occurred to Itachi…

Hadn't the girl kissed him before?

Itachi's lips twitched at all the trouble he had suffered …

Stupid double standards…


	10. Putting Sailors to Shame

_**I don't own Naruto. _

_How long am I going to milk the whole kissing situation? Hehe, not until the 'whole story' has been covered. I hope that this chapter puts Kakashi's and Genma's overprotective nature into perspective. _

_Thank you for taking the time to read my story! Mustsleep Z.z_

_**Update 7-25-11: **__at the ending of Putting Sailors to Shame, is chapter !0.5: Naruto's Evaluation of the Situation… Sorry it took so long to explain this . I hope this answers everyone's questions. **_

**Putting Sailors to Shame**

Kakashi was, in fact, having a good morning. Actually, he was having an amazing morning; which led him to believe he would have an amazing day, but truthfully, the amazing morning was very misleading as to how the rest of his day was going to go.

How did Kakashi end up having a good morning? Well, the fact that he was not awakened by the sunlight because he was sleeping on his left side, away from the window, was a key factor. The man hated to rise to the sun when he was at home because rising with the sun was what he did on missions.

When he did awake and found he was not covered in drool also played a key role in making him very pleased. The dogs had decided that they were going on an adventure to tea country. Kakashi believed the sudden 'we're going on an adventure' was due to the fact that there seemed to be a dog food making company, which coincidentally seemed to reside in tea country, was in need of test subjects for a new dog treat; not that Kakashi minded in the least about what his dogs did.

So Kakashi found himself, drool free and several hours later than usual, taking a stroll in town, where the usual gasps of utter disgust (from mothers' concerning his reading material and giggling habits) went unheard. If Kakashi had been truly paying attention, looking underneath the underneath; he would have known something was wrong. But the man just thought he was having a lucky day and that the lack of gossiping woman was a sign of good fortune, not taking it as the true dark omen that it was.

The man soon found himself at the memorial stone where he spent thirty minutes reading, waiting for some other shinobi to leave, before he began to speak with Obito about life, dogs, books and his genin team. It was then, when he spoke on the last, he realized that today was a training day for them and that it was several hours after noon. So he gave a quick goodbye before heading off towards the bridge.

There was no 'You're late again! (Believe it!)', which immediately put Kakashi on the edge. His ninja instincts kicked in to tell him that something was indeed wrong. Kakashi's eyes flickered back and forth from the three genin, all of whom were not on the bridge but sitting on the grassy field right next to it. Each of them was staring off into their own world. Naruto and Sasuke were, for the first time in history, in the same proximity as each other without fighting. Sakura was, also for the first time, not turning a bright red color while making goo-goo eyes at the Uchiha.

This left Kakashi in an awkward position: which one did he speak to first? Should he even break the calming (although odd) silence? It was actually quite nice, he could read exceptionally well under such peaceful circumstances. But lack of a response was really starting to worry Kakashi, the man who had a knack to remain indifferent to everything. This made him wonder; had he finally broken his team? He'd been late; heck, he'd always been late, but never to this extent. It was several hours into the afternoon. Today he'd actually forgotten about them. The silence was uncanny…

Sighing, Kakashi wondered who he should speak to first or if he should announce his apology to the entire group. If he spoke to them separately he would deal with each of their wraths independently but it would take awhile. If he spoke to them at once he would get it all at the same time; they were only genin after all so it couldn't be that bad; of course, one held a fox demon, one was the son of a powerful Clan leader and then one was a female and Kakashi never really knew what to do with them. Kakashi took a deep breath; it couldn't be that bad… right?

"Yo!" Kakashi announced a little bit louder than usual as he waved his book at the children.

…

Utter and complete silence.

If they had been paying attention they might have seen the famous Copy-nin start breaking into a sweat as the realization that something was really wrong hit him.

"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi began voice slightly trembling as he tried to dislodge the horrible feeling in his stomach. "I met the most amazing woman at the autumn festival." Misleading truth, the woman had been able to pack in more ramen then Naruto.

There were no cries of outrage, disgust or 'hn… pervert.'

Something was horribly amiss.

Kakashi was now inspecting all of them closely. For once the Uchiha wasn't scowling or smirking with malicious intent; he just seemed to be staring off into the distance. Sakura's eyes seemed trained on her hands as her lips moved without emitting any sound. Naruto actually looked serious, his yellow brows touching in contemplation.

Then, just when Kakashi thought it couldn't get any stranger; Sasuke burst into laughter. The boy tipped backwards from his sitting position until his back hit the green grass. There he began to pluck at the low growing life forms before tossing them up into the air.

"A joke," The black haired boy started out, his voice growing higher in pitch as he began to giggle to himself, "this is just some weird, freakish joke."

Kakashi blinked twice; before trying to dispel the genjutsu by muttering 'Kia' with a bit more enthusiasm then he normally would in a battle. Realizing, that this was in fact, real life that was happening; he turned to the only member of the team he deemed at least 'level-headed'.

"Sakura, what's going on?" Kakashi growled as he could feel more sweat begin to fall from his forehead.

The pink haired girl finally gave notice to his presence, but when her green eyes made contact with his black something in Kakashi's gut told him she wasn't all there.

She rose from her sitting position and began to slowly walk towards Kakashi as if in a daze. Her light green eyes were unfocused as if looking past him.

For the first time (in a very long time) Kakashi froze; his mind sputtering as he tried to make sense of this new, chaotic world.

Two firm, petite, little hands gripped his green jounin vest.

"It was a log Kakashi," The green eyed female told him as though she was an adult scolding a child. "It was a log."

Yes, he had broken his genin team and he had no idea how to put them back together. One thing was for certain though, the third hokage would not be happy…

This left Kakashi with only one option.

He needed to get help, and get it fast.

With that the man bolted as quickly as he could, leaving the girl holding his jounin vest (her grip was tight), before the blond could emerge from whatever thought provoking insanity he was under.

#$%

The senibon user was doing what he usually did on his days off, strolling through town making passes at any woman that might be a likely prospect, which meant every 19+ unmarried woman (18 was deemed too young by him, even the great Genma had standards.)

When he caught a glimpse of spiky grey hair in the crowd, he was a tad bit confused; he thought the one of his many drinking buddies had a genin team to train today. He was a bit more confused when he realized that the man was not walking at his usual lazy pace but seemed to be in a hurry; running late again, Genma thought with a chuckle.

But when he noticed the man was not reading his book but was peering around the crowd looking for someone, he knew something was wrong. In a flash that could almost put the body-flickerer to shame, Genma appeared at his friend's side.

"Who are you looking for, Kakashi?" The senibon user asked, curious.

The grey haired man turned directly to stare at Genma, sighing in relief. Genma wanted to gulp, he'd never seen the Copy-nin break a sweat… this wasn't good.

"Where's Anko?" The man almost seemed breathless, and he was missing his jounin vest.

Genma narrowed his eyes, "Trying to move in on my woman?"

"No… I need-," the ex-anbu captain seemed at a loss for words for several moments, "-I need to know how to fix something."

Genma raised an eyebrow. "Anko's good at breaking things, Kakashi, you should know that."

"Yes, but she sometimes knows how to fix-" Kakashi stopped, this was just taking up precious time. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, "Where is she?"

"Mission in Suna," Genma said with a sigh, would he really be outside if she was in the village?

Immediately, Genma saw the calculating gaze in his friend's eye; which meant he was seriously about to consider going to the desert to find her.

"What did you break?" Genma asked slowly, something seemed really off about the usually apathetic man. The usually emotionless face glared at the senibon user for breaking his train of thought.

"Maybe I can help?" Genma tried again, not wanting to be on the receiving end of whatever Kakashi wanted to deal out.

Kakashi sighed, giving in. "Come." Both of them appeared on the roof tops.

"What did you break, Kakashi?" Genma asked again as they both began to bolt towards the outskirts of the leaf village. "Kakashi-"

"My genin team," Kakashi muttered quickly, picking up his pace.

Genma blink several times before trying to catch up. "How did you manage that?" The senibon user chuckled.

Kakashi growled clearly not amused, "I don't know; I was late and now they're broke." Both jumped onto the red bridge.

Genma was about to burst into laughter before the sight before him made his entire mind backfire.

There lying on the grass was an Uchiha… A main branch Uchiha... That was giggling like a two year old, plucking at grass before throwing it over his face where it then fell into his spiky black hair.

A motion from his peripheral vision caught his attention. The tiny, pink haired female of the team was talking to Kakashi's jounin vest like the man was still in it.

"A log," She said slowly, like someone talking to a baby, "it was a log." At that she gave the vest a shake before going over the words again.

Genma stared at Kakashi, who was sweating like the genui-pig Anko liked to throw kunai at, out of the corner of his eye. The man had seriously broken his genin team… They probably were going to need Anko.

Suddenly, Genma noticed that he had forgotten one of the members. The senibon user quickly picked out the blond hair from the green. The kid looked deep in thought, unlike the usual pranking, giggling kid he usually saw.

Kakashi motioned for him to stop, but Genma opened his mouth anyways.

"Naruto, what's going on?"

The blue-eyes looked up and regarded Genma carefully before speaking.

"Itachi needs to stop messing around with Sakura."

Kakashi's and Genma's eyes narrowed in unison.

The words seemed to have snapped Sakura out of her 'log lecture', cutting off whatever words the two were going to say.

"That's right!" she screamed, her voice nearing insanity, "he needs a X.x x.X to his X.x that X.x x.X X.x X.x should just X.x X.x to his X.x X.x"

Genma blinked, the girl could but a sailor to shame.

Kakashi growled; Itachi was going to pay because nobody caught the Copy-nin this off guard. (Actually it was more along the case of nobody made the Copy-nin this worried about people he cared about; not that Kakashi would admit it to Pakkun, but the man didn't deny it either.)

"Tell me exactly what happened," Kakashi barked at the blond who was the only sane member left on his squad.

**7-25-11 Chapter 10.5: Naruto's Evaluation of the Situation**

Naruto gave a sigh, "Sasuke saw Itachi kiss Sakura-"

"Excuse me?" Kakashi said his voice sharp. Itachi had done what to his student?

"Itachi kissed Sakura and," Naruto motioned to Sasuke, who was still looking up at the sky, his back on the grass, "as you can see, he's pretty messed up about it."

"You kids are all freaked out about a kiss," Genma started laughing. "Are you kidding me? Don't say I didn't warn you about Itachi though Kakashi," Genma said turning to his friend. The laugh froze on his lips as Kakashi looked ready to murder him (or somebody with long, black hair.)

"Well, it wasn't just a kiss," Naruto started, which grabbed Kakashi's attention away from the shrinking back Genma. "The kiss is just what sent Sasuke over the edge," Naruto told the two of them seriously, "I don't think Sasuke even knew his brother liked girls. Sasuke idolized his older brother as the perfect ninja, free of hormones and improper behavior. The shock of seeing reality was too great for him to handle. I believe once he comes to terms with who Itachi really is, he will go back to normal."

"What happened to Sakura?" Kakashi asked, the killing intent around him not going away.

"Well after she watched Sasuke snap like a twig, she planned and went today, to give Itachi a piece of her mind...Why, I'm not sure. Itachi is already a pretty smart person… Well, maybe not. The whole thing was kind of his fault, so maybe that is why she wanted to share with Itachi. I went with Sakura, not to give Itachi a piece of my mind, but to yell at him. Goodness knows I don't have much to spare, even the beast in the cage in my head says that he's almost at wit's end because of my stupidity."

Genma's mouth turned into a firm line, "You have a voice in your head?"

Naruto ignored the comment and continued, "When we got to the Uchiha training grounds, Itachi was working on throwing shurikens with his eyes closed. Now, I told Sakura that it was probably wasn't the best idea to disturb him, but she wanted to give him a piece of her mind, regardless of the consequences."

"She was the one who walked up, and then grabbed onto his shirt and started pulling. Then she started yelling at him, which was supposed to be my job. When he opened his eyes he looked pretty annoyed; trust me, I know annoyed. But Sakura didn't get it… You know, now that I think about it, Sakura isn't very smart. Even I know better than to piss of an ANBU and stand still, you run when you piss one off and you run fast," Naruto shook his head, as if disappointed in his teammate.

"So he told Sakura that there were better ways to spend time and that she should stop being rancorous, whatever that means, and go train." Naruto sighed, "She didn't take that hint either. I'm starting to think maybe I've been seeing Sakura all wrong. She may be the dumbest person I've ever met…" Naruto trailed off as though finally reaching his epiphany.

"What did Itachi do to Sakura?" Kakashi asked slowly, controlling his rage.

"He said that 'you,' as in Sakura, 'should be focusing such energy into breaking genjutsus.' So he did like a billion hand signs and then told Sakura, 'get out.' Sakura then tried to hit Itachi in the face. That is over the line for me," Naruto said swiping his hands in the air, "I am no longer taking any advice from Sakura."

"Naruto," Kakashi spat.

"Oh… Well, after she took a swing at Itachi, she started acting really strange. Itachi had backed up but Sakura started kicking right and left then every-which-way. Then she started swearing and telling Itachi to stop using replacement jutsus."

Naruto shivered, "Then Itachi looked at me and...well, I did the only thing a sane person would do… push-ups. And I told Itachi I was training my physical strength. He walked over, which really freaked me out, so I started doing them faster. Then his foot went under my chest, holding me up. He told me to move my arms closer together and to straighten like a plank. When I did what he said, he then told me to lower myself and not touch the ground and to hold the position for three seconds and-"

"Naruto, what happened to Sakura?" Kakashi snarled.

"Well, she kept getting more and more frustrated. Nothing really happened until Itachi started teaching me one-handed pull-ups with chakra reinforcement. The move looks really cool and Itachi said it would help with my extreme lack of chakra control-"

"Naruto!"

"Ok… Sakura just started screaming, and it wasn't her angry scream; it sounded like she was dieing. Itachi did a weird hand sign, to release the jutsu, and both of us went to Sakura. She was curled up in a ball and rocking back and forth talking about logs and replacement jutsus and being attacked, or something like that. Itachi looked worried and began muttering something about how he should have tested the new jutsu out on Shisui first, but that it shouldn't have hurt her. It took him awhile to get Sakura to look at him, and then he did this weird thing with his finger, telling her to watch it as he moved it about."

Naruto tilted his head to the side as if analyzing his memory, "He then patted her head and told me she'd be fine in a couple hours, but if she was till acting funny she should be taken to a ninja medic for a check-up. He said Tsunade would be best, or Shizune if Tsunade couldn't be found. And he also said that I was to tell them that it was," Naruto leaned his head the other way, "Pro-longed Genjutsu Disarrangement or PGD."

"How long ago did he tell you this?" Kakashi looked back at Sakura who was still clinging to his jounin jacket. It was not looking good.

"Well, it was about eight so… seven hours give-or-take."

Kakashi's lips twitched, Itachi needed to be taught a lesson. The man was way too old for Sakura, he had no right to kiss her, and then to put her in a mind altering genjutsu- Yes, the man would pay.

Genma sighed, looking over at his friend and noting that the killing intent was not going away. "Perhaps we should take Sakura to Tsunade? If it is PGD she needs to get treatment, a couple doses of drugs and maybe a visit to a Yamanaka…" The man trailed off noticing Kakashi's narrowed eye was staring at him.

"Yes," Kakashi turned to Sakura and swung her over his shoulder. "Naruto, practice is cancelled," Kakashi said looking back at Naruto, then his eye went to Sasuke and he made an odd face, "make sure Sasuke gets home safe and… make sure nobody sees him in his current state," he would hate to get visited by the clan patriarch.

Genma began slowly back tracking to escape and return to his stroll through the street, but he was too noticeable.

"Genma, I believe I will need your aid to handle some…personal matters with the Uchiha heir."

Genma sighed, knowing it was bound to happen. The man was a little old to be kissing a genin…Well, he always knew something was up with the ANBU captain; at least he was only a pedophile, not some closet mass-murdering psycho.


	11. I Don't Like Your Games

_*******__Well, it has been very long time since I have updated... It hasn't been because the plot bunnies ran away… it was because only the funny ones did. I've had some non-humors stuff written but I was unable to write something (or finish) a funny. I'm sorry. This one may not even be that funny…_

_Thank you for taking the time to read my story/ies and I hope you enjoy them. A special thank you to those that take the time to review; I really appreciate them. _

_Mustsleep Z.z__*******_

**I don't like your games: **

**(there has been a slight time shift into the future not that it matters that much)**

"Itachi," Sakura said as she lunged into the grass next to the raven haired man. He noted that it was in the tone she used to gain his full attention; and not in the normal mentor way. The tone was her way of starting the games she liked to play; which undoubtedly would not bode well for him.

Wanting for her to find another poor soul to pester because he was enjoying his haiku, Itachi turned another page in his book. Luck wasn't on his side though. He had learned by now that he was most likely the only one who put up with her odd childish ways or he was considered her favorite toy. He glanced up, after a moment's hesitation of thought, only to have his retinas burned and blinded by the sunlight bouncing off the girl's vivid pink hair. "Yes…"

The girl smiled, in a fashion that warned him that trouble was coming his way. Having her work for and with Tsunade really was a bad idea, the woman had only harnessed the 'evil characteristics' (as Itachi liked to call them) of the girl into a more destructive form. Not that they hadn't caused enough damage before. Of course, there had been no debating the issue. After the aptly named 'log incident' Tsunade removed Sakura from Kakashi's 'custody' while the team was in the village and demanded full rights to her training which meant Itachi no longer had any say in her teaching 'or else'. In hindsight he hadn't planned that card well. He had forgotten how gullible the girl was even though she had a knack for the art. At least she had forgiven him after he formally apologized (under the threat of the woman sannin) and after she had completed eight, two hour long therapy sessions.

She inched closer to his personal space, trying to be subtle but the attempt was quite noticeably blatant; of course her teacher wasn't known to be a subtle woman. In truth she was the opposite. The pressures around his personal space hadn't been a bad thing years ago when he had trained her himself but now with her knowledge of chakra control arts and her chakra strength he had already calculated that the probable outcomes for him were not looking good. For one, he wasn't allowed to touch or participate in any strenuous mind exercise with her without having Tsunade's permission. Being one of her private patients, he took her words to heart, landing on the gurney and having a pissed surgeon operating did not sound like a pleasant experience. Not to mention he valued his eye sight. So he was slightly annoyed because one-sided fights were only fun for so long.

"Your cousin asked me for a favor." She giggled.

The giggle had a malevolent aura to it and spoken with reference to Shisui, Itachi figured that today wasn't going to go well.

"That doesn't sound good." No sentence combining 'his cousin' and 'favor' ever sounded good.

"He wants you taken off the roster for ANBU." She stopped several feet away from him and cocked her head to the side in a puppy dog fashion as if waiting to hear a command.

Itachi's eyes widened just a little. That had been unexpected. Usually Shisui's so called 'favors' dealt with pranks; which he didn't endorse at all. Itachi couldn't understand why he was being taken off unless his cousin thought he wasn't doing an adequate job as captain. Immediately Itachi's mind raced through his last team missions to see if there was something he did to a teammate or differed in his usual spotless performance.

"Well, he wants a break-," she said seeing he didn't understand why, "– and he thinks the only way he'll get it is if your team gets taken off the roster. 'Which,' I quote, 'means the captain's got to go.'"

Memory would be the only evidence that there had once been an Uchiha by the name of Shisui; and even that could be changed. Itachi decided that to spite his cousin in asking favors form little girls he would just increase their teams load. ANBU business was ANBU; if a subordinate had something to say to the captain then they said it to their face. It was also their duty to continue with missions for as long as the village needed them. Shisui signed up knowing such facts. Their ANBU team only completed thirty percent more missions due to the fact of their efficiency and that was something to be proud of, not something to withdraw from. Closing the book with a greater force than necessary, Itachi stood and turned to return to the Uchiha compound where he knew his cousin was currently located.

"Don't worry I'll speak to my cousin. He won't be asking you for any more requests. " Nor would he be asking anyone else either once he would soon be six feet under. Using someone that worked with important files for the Hokage was a horrendous action even for his cousin. It was good the girl had spoken to him; she could have been imprisoned if she was found to be within ANBU file range without permission.

"That's not why I'm here."

Itachi turned back to look at the girl who had risen from the grass only to sport a smile that was creepier than Orochimaru's. Raising a tender eyebrow in question, Itachi didn't need to speak to let the girl know she had his attention.

"I'm asking you to remove yourself from the roster before I have to resort to any drastic measures." Her hands were located on her hips and her body language screamed confidence. She seriously thought she could remove him from active duty.

Itachi smiled in return; there was no legal way she could remove him, an ANBU captain, from the roster.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but Shisui's payments for 'favors' are not as good as they seem from behind prison bars. I would suggest you tell him to leave you alone for implanting such notions in your head."

"You think I can't get you off." Sakura scoffed at him. "I'll give you one last chance."

"Sakura it's my duty as a shinobi of this village to offer my services whenever the hokage or elders desire them; it's Shisui's duty as well, but he needs to be reminded it seems. I believe you can do it but being caught near ANBU files and rooster will, at the very least, put an infraction on your record, where you will be watched for the rest of your life for treasonous activity." Itachi shook his head; he really didn't want her to get in trouble and would undoubtedly need to stop her from getting to the file room.

Watching her closely, Itachi could see that she hadn't been deterred and seemed to even be standing straighter. She raised one of her thin pink eyebrows as if ridicule his actions.

"I didn't think you were that closed minded Itachi." Her smile grew larger, even though Itachi had thought it couldn't get any creepier… it did. "There are other ways to get you off."

Itachi caught himself before he raised an eyebrow in question. "And how would you go about that?"

"Think Itachi." She batted him with her lashes as though to make herself look vulnerable; it was impossible to do that with the smile though.

She giggled as he didn't reply. "Who's my teacher?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed in thought, hesitating as if the question had an underlying meaning, "Tsunade."

"Correct!" She giggled again with her high pitched tone. "Now what is Tsunade's relationship with the Hokage?"

"Ex-student to teacher…"

"Very good Itachi! Now, do you think the Third would listen to Tsunade if she was in a very bad mood?"

What kind of question was that? Itachi sighed. "He would listen to her," If only out of fear because he was a brittle old man.

"Good! Now-"

"I'm done now Sakura. I need to go speak with Shisui." Itachi turned to go only to have one of his sleeves captured by the girl's pesky fingers.

He turned around and stared down at her; immediately noticing the lack of the chilling smile. Her head was tilted to the side as if she was about to ask a question. And her eyes increased in size capturing Itachi's obsidian orbs, making him freeze in thought.

Her fingers sought his shoulders until she had a firm grip, then she tightened slightly while introducing some chakra to her fingertips. "It was a log." She says her voice hinting at hysteria.

Itachi's eyes blinked realizing her entire implication.

The girl was now grinning like a mad woman for he had played right into her hands.

Itachi was now sure he had unintentionally screwed himself for the rest of his life. He most definitely did not like Sakura's games.


	12. Halloween Special

_***I don't own Naruto._

_Hmm, this is perhaps a belated Halloween special…_

_I hope you guys enjoy. Thank you for the reviews; I really appreciate them._

_Thank you for taking the time to read my story: I am going to note that the grammar is probably really messed up :/ srry. I hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween._

_Z.z Mustsleep***_

**October 29****th**

Tsunade stared up at the young ANBU captain who looked more than just a tad bit tired. Dark lines circled underneath his eyes and his stress lines seemed to have stress lines. The man stared past her, obsidian eyes unblinking…

A tad bit odd in Tsunade's opinion; usually the man was fairly prompt in giving her the reason for his appearance. Tilting her head to the side the woman quickly scanned the body before her; nothing seemed out of place or bleeding. Even if there was she'd send him right to Shizune; he knew not to come to her office when she had paperwork to do. But he was a good distraction from paperwork and a good excuse as well; if she needed one to explain why the paperwork hadn't gotten done. The elders loved their brilliant Itachi and would undoubtedly direct the conversation on a path about the sharingan eyes, away from the piles of light white pieces before her.

But today was actually not that good of a day to use the excuse; this paperwork was actually important. Hospital funding was a must this year; especially if there was to be a war breaking out between them and the Sound village.

"Is there a problem Itachi?" Maybe he'd forgotten the reason as to why he had entered her office in the first place.

There was no reply. Odd… Tsunade stared at the man's eyes. He wasn't blinking.

"Itachi!" The woman growled; had the man come into her office to sleep? The nerve…

The man blinked, twice, before settling his eyes on the blonde haired woman. "May I help you?" The tone was strained though.

"Is there a problem?"

He glanced around the room, as though looking for a problem or perhaps to take in his surroundings. "No… Not that I can see…"

Tsunade sighed as she watched the man make his way to the side of the room where he then leaned against the wall. Tsunade twitched as his back slid down until his bottom the floor where he was in a comfortable sitting position. He was allowed to take a nap and she was just supposed to watch him? Even though she felt slightly honored by his trust; in no way was it acceptable for him to just stalk into her office, stand in front of her desk, say nothing for twenty five minutes then act as if she were the clueless idiot and that he had better things to do; such as slide down her wall and take a cat nap.

She leaned over her desk and looked down at the man.

"Why are you here?" Didn't she have something to do? … Drink? Yes, she needed to drink and she couldn't do that with a witness in the room; she was still on the job…Wasn't she in her office for reason? Something work related probably… Something extremely important…

Her eyes refocused on the man; who was staring at the opposite wall. It was disturbing her that he had yet to blink… How long could he go without it? … She wasn't known for her patience.

"Itachi?" There was no movement, was he even breathing? Quickly Tsunade eyed the objects on her desk. She needed something to throw at him… something preferably hard enough to wake him, but not hard enough to invoke killing intent. There were those plastic frogs that Jiraiya sent her in her second drawer… There were only two types though.

The fingernail sized ones made him swat a hand; which amused her to no end. The large one got his attention though. Itachi blinked at the fat plastic toad in his hand that had 'hugs and kisses' written on its chest. He was obviously confused and awake.

"Itachi…"

The man looked around him; tiny frogs littered the tiled floor.

"Itachi!"

The man blinked up at the large chested woman who was leaning over her desk watching him as though he was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. He shivered, for some reason he felt his trust in her had been violated.

"Yes?"

"Why are you in my office?" Tsunade growled.

Itachi gave a long drawn out sigh before he stood and made his way over to the blond haired woman's desk.

"May I ask for a favor?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "What kind of favor?" She was too familiar with Shisui's so called 'favors' which usually could be traced back to Jiraiya if it involved her.

"Can you send your apprentice on a very," sigh, "very long mission; preferably somewhere far away from the village…" Itachi watched as the woman's eye brows touched together trying to analyze his words for hidden meanings. He didn't blame her, he knew Shisui better than anyone. His eyes looked up at the wall behind her.

Several minutes passes as Tsunade realized that there was no way it involve Shisui unless he planned to prank Sakura's apartment somehow; although she doubted he'd get very far, she lived a floor below Kakashi and was right next to Naruto. So she concluded that it must have something to do with their relationship status. Had they fought? Usually she received complaints from civilians about earthquakes if that was the case. Maybe he had tried something with her little Sakura that went beyond friendship. If something had happened…he'd better gotten her permission first and if he had… she wanted details. Details about odd relationships always made good story plots and that would undoubtedly get Jiraiya off her back. A smile began to form in her clouded but genius mind.

Itachi didn't notice the change in demeanor; most likely due to the fact he had once again fallen asleep with two eyes still open.

"Why should I send Sakura away?"

Tsunade glanced up; quickly took a swig from a bottle hidden in her chest wrapping as she noticed the ANBU captain was asleep. Squinting at the sour taste she looked back up at the man before her. "Itachi!" the woman barked.

Itachi blinked, "Yes?"

"Why send my apprentice away?"

Itachi took a deep breath. "She's a bad influence on my clan…"

Tsunade raised both eyebrows expecting more than a sentence from the man that had been in her office for several hours. Time… Hmm… Wasn't she supposed to do something?

"She's gotten the permission from my father and elders to use the compound for some sort of candy festival. Currently she has eighty-five percent of all able bodied clan members aiding her in the 'decoration'; which includes several varieties of squash and skeletons that pop out of coffins." The tone of distaste when the man mentioned the last made Tsunade believe that the man may have been caught on unawares.

"So…" Tsunade paused, "She's trying to get the Uchiha clan to celebrate Halloween?"

"I don't care what they're calling it. For the sanity of my clan I want her away from my mother," Itachi growled.

And the truth came out…

Mikoto was always over the top about decorating; it was one of the things she loved about that woman.

Tsunade smiled and stood to pat Itachi on the shoulder. "It's ok sweetie, you can stay in the hospital if you're scared of the ghosties…"

Itachi blinked down at the woman. "Is that what the white sheets are for?"

Tsunade gave a nod.

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought it was some sort of eerie laundry fad."

"Don't worry two more days and they'll put everything away." She continued to pat the man the shoulder.

Itachi gave a weak, tired smile.

"Why don't you go home and get some sleep, ok? And I think I have the perfect mission for my apprentice, but I'll need a week to run it through the Hokage."

Itachi nodded and headed through the door way and out into the hall. Tsunade then chuckled; realizing Itachi probably didn't know about trick-or-treaters either. Well, the compound would sure be a fun place come the 31st.

Tsunade quickly took another swig from her container just as Shizune walked through the door way.

"Tsunade!" She barked, "Where's that paperwork I gave you. We need to give that to the council in an hour to get funding for the hospital."

Tsunade cursed and Shizune growled seeing the small odd shaped cylinder in her teacher's hand.

^^^Somewhere near but not in the Uchiha compound ^^^

"Mommy,why is that man just standing there? It doesn't look like he's blinking either; do you think he's dead?"

"Don't get near him sweetheart; he's just a freak…"

_Poor Itachi…_


	13. Tsunade's Plan

**Edit 11/13/11 – **_**just a quick review that made small changes with spelling and also to aid readability. Also re-reading, making the hokage pay didn't make sense to me when it was Tsunade requesting the mission. So the pay is from Tsunade. **_

_**Warning**__: the following may contain a very out of character Itachi… (Not that I've put him in character to begin with but it's at the end.)_

_Well, sorry it's been so long. ._

_I hope you enjoy the following chapter of A Complicated Series of Events._

_Thank you for your reviews and time in reading my fan-fic._

_I hope everyone had happy holidays._

_Mustsleep Z.z_

**How they found the object of their search. Part one of Tsunade's Plan**

The third hokage glanced at his paperwork then back up at the chunin team and special jounin before him. He was an old man, who preferred to not get involved with situations that would only bring him trouble. But he had a soft spot for his students. Orochimaru's every breath was proof of such. But, he'd always had a softer spot for Tsunade; even though he was slightly regretting it now. As soon as she walked in with swaying hips and lips drawn up in a grin, he'd known she had a scheme for trouble, one which would require his participation. Women were horrible creatures, not that he would ever say that out loud; especially in the vicinity of his late student or late student's apprentice. The latter of who was standing before him now.

"Team Seven," He began, "you have been assigned a new mission by an anonymous client or clients."

The bright blond haired boy beamed a smile; anonymous clients usually had high ranking missions and pay.

"Your team has been personally requested as well as another."

Immediately Kakashi was all ears; not many people requested multiple teams of chunin if they knew an ex-ANBU operative was on one. This meant, either they did not know (an unlikely situation if they had been personally requested) or his fame was receding and they truly believed he was getting old. Not good, in his opinion.

A knock sounded at the door and the hokage smiled, "Please come in."

A tall spiky black haired man entered with a massive smile; it froze like plastic on his face when he noticed the others in the room.

"Well, well, well," the smile became replaced with a teasing grin, "did you guys get called in again for 'sexy-ing' into the woman's bath house."

"Again?" Sakura's eyes narrowed as she glared down her team, namely the whisker-faced man who was currently staring at the floor. Her eyes then traveled to the others… they were staring at the floor as well.

She cracked her knuckles and two men shivered openly the third closed his one eye expecting to get hit within the following seconds.

Sasuke raised his eyes enough to lock with the older man, "Shisui…" he growled out.

"Move!" a harsh woman's voice growled from behind the man who still was standing in the door way. The man flickered to the hokage's desk as a fist took the place of his previous position. A woman waltzed into the room followed by several dogs and an Uchiha heir.

After asserting the room, the woman quickly gave Sakura a hug. "Thanks for the time off," she whispered into the pink-haired girl's ear. Not that it did any good in a room full of shinobi who had been trained to use chakra to enhance their hearing. Several curious glances came from her team and hokage; a knowing smile etched its way across Shisui's features and Itachi's eyes narrowed. The hokage, now understanding, then sighed… this wasn't looking good for him. Oh why had he taken on Tsunade as a student?

"Anytime, Hana." Sakura laughed scratching the back of her head. Immediately the entire room became electrified with killer intent focused upon the youngest woman in the room.

Several odd glances swept between Sakura and Itachi before settling upon Sakura, who team seven knew they would get answers from later.

"Now that you are all here-"the hokage began.

"Hey wait old man, how come ANBU are late? Aren't they supposed to be on time?" Naruto interrupted.

"I took into consideration the time it would take your team leader to show and give you instructions."

There was no more that needed to be said -except- "Dang, that's why you're Hokage, believe it!"

"Now that you are all here," the man continued ignoring Naruto, "I expect a fine job done."

Kakashi raised his hand.

"No, this is not an S-rank mission, although, I am classifying it as A-rank." The rank was due to the pay, which the third had Tsunade forfeit due to the loss of an ANBU team.

A cheer escaped Naruto's mouth as he then whispered to Sasuke, "Hear that A-rank. I'm going to get famous in no time."

"The client believes that a fellow shinobi is in trouble and requests that they be brought back to the village, unharmed," The third hokage continued on over Naruto's whispering, being used to it by now.

"Will it take two teams to remove the shinobi from their current location?" Itachi asked.

Traveling with team seven wasn't as appealing as many would think. Things had just settled down around the compound and he wanted nothing to do with the horrid witch with pink hair.

"Maybe… Hana will be used to track down the subject and the client believes that Kakashi will be able to get Jiraiya to return." Oh no… he just said that name out loud.

"You want us to go collect that pervert!" Two women roared into his ears.

"Yeah! I get to go see Jiraiya sensei!" Shisui cheered as he hugged Itachi. "Do you think he'll teach me anymore of his spying tricks?"

Kakashi nodded to himself, believing the so called 'client' was once again his editors.

"Oh, and Itachi," The third hokage waved out a scroll.

Itachi slammed Shisui, who was still hugging the younger man, into the wall(_which would come to be known in future generations as the 'cursed bloodstain of death' and that if touch would bring about a curse that not even the Yondiame, in his time, could reverse_.)

…Back to the story...

"This is just in case Kakashi is unable to persuade him to return." The scroll passed between the two men. In reality it was the whole reason Tsunade had probably asked for the mission all together. "But I would give it to him when you meet him. I believe it contains important information from the client."

Whatever was in the scroll was trouble and he wanted nothing to do with it.

Nothing...

He had been, of course, a tad bit curious of what it said - so he'd taken one little peak...

The poor kids were in for a long road ahead of them. Itachi had his sympathy, the poor man. But the man had brought it upon himself, in a small way. The moral of the scroll he had read: never fall asleep in Tsunade's office, ever.

He gave a kind smile to Itachi as he clapped the hand clasping the scroll. "Take care." Perhaps, they were the only words of advice one could give under such circumstances.

The hokage watched the odd ball group leave with a slight twinge of guilt. His best Anbu-captain and tactician was being sent away to have his relationship between Sakura examined by his most _enlightening_ student. He could save him. Call him back. Send him on an assassination mission somewhere far away.

If only he didn't have a soft spot for his students or a strong desire for one blond, intoxicated woman to leave him alone.

Surprisingly the Anbu-captain hadn't asked about his new desk. Perhaps the prodigy was losing his touch or it now happened too often to give thought to…. The latter was the far likelier option.

So the rag tag group set off towards that last known location of the toad sage.

"I get to see sensei!" the voice sang in falsetto – "I get to see sensei!" – The flickering man was doing laps around the walking group of chunin and (ex) Anbu.

By now the entire group had stopped watching the vanishing act, by the second day it had gotten old, now it was just annoying.

"Hey, hey Sasuke! Guess what?"

…

"We're going to –" A fist missed the body flickerer as the man dodged at the last second.

Sasuke let his outstretched arm fall as he sighed. It did nothing to destroy his older cousin's mood. The man continued on with his song and with his ritualistic circle like dance.

"Pervy-sage may be cool," Naruto raised an eyebrow at the dancing, flickering, singing man, "but this is-"

"His name is Jiraiya!"

Immediately Naruto came face to face with the oldest Uchiha in the pack. The onyx eyes glittered with what seemed to be red light. "But I believe you should refer to him as Toad Sage out of respect."

Itachi felt the scroll at his side. Something was off about the mission. For one, the hokage had requested road pace, which was odd for something classified as 'A-class'. Two, there was no valid, listed reason as to why the 'client' requested (or hokage had submitted) to sending an entire Anbu team, ex-anbu and chunin to collect the sage. Hana was used to being plucked off for collection missions, separating was normal in such cases. He could, perhaps, understand the hokage's order to take his best friend because Shisui would have undoubtedly never let it rest if Hana had been able to meet the toad sage and not him.

The reason _he_ was here was eluding him. The hokage knew for a fact that Itachi did not 'agree' with the sage's way of life, or the influence the man casted upon his best friend. Not to mention there had been an incident between them several years ago. The hokage should have known better than to put him on this mission.

Noticing the strange silence in front of him, Itachi glanced up and saw no one in front. He turned back. The team was several feet behind him and not moving.

After several minutes Itachi decided to intervene, it was only making the journey more unbearable.

"Shisui, cut it out."

The older male, whose face had remained inches away from Naruto's, broke into snickers. "You were starting to sweat!" The man flickered away so he could clutch his stomach with laughter and point. "Got you!"

Team seven let out a sigh of relief and Hana let out an uneasy chuckle as they continued down the path. Then the man flickered back to Naruto's side and looped an arm around his shoulders. Shisui squeezed Naruto's shoulder as he leaned in to whisper in his ear. "But seriously, it's Toad Sage to you." The man let out another laugh before giving the orange jumpsuit wearing kid a pat on the back. The man then bolted to his favorite cousin. The team moved forward in silence for half an hour…

"Baby cousin, Baby cousin! Guess what?"

After the sixtieth time, no one even gave a sigh. The two dogs though, whined in unison.

"We're going to see sensei! We're going to see sensei!" The almost thirty year-old giggled with glee as he pranced around his best friend.

The onyx eyes of the younger man narrowed, as if daring him to get closer. The challenge was taken.

"Ita-chi-chi. Don't look so angry, we're going to see sensei!" The arms tighten around the muscular body.

Itachi's eyebrow twitched. The spiky haired man flew through the trees.

"Ouch!"

"Owww Itachi!"

He'd hit somebody…

"Dang, Itachi you have good aim," The poor boy was too loud and close to captain's ears for his own good, "Believe it!"

Itachi's eyes glimmered with red.

"Aaah Kakashi save me!"

"Who the h*** keeps throwing these brats at me!"

"Sensei!"

"Pervy-sage!"

"You still hold something against the toad dude, huh Itachi?" Hana asked.

And that was how the object of their search was found.

_********Explanations************_

_Pfft. And I bet all of you thought the dogs were sick and tired of Shisui…. (yes that is how Itachi knew he was there.) For those of you wondering if he had superpowers… sorry…_

_Oh and on a side note: as much fun as I poke at poor Naruto, it's all in good humor._


	14. -Of Conversations You Never Want to Have

*Well here is the next chapter. I don't own Naruto. Please enjoy. Mustsleep Z.z*

**-Of conversations you never want to have (and yes poor Itachi)**

Sakura collapsed on the bed beside Itachi with a smile.

Oops…

That isn't the beginning...

Hmm… Let's try again:

How hard was it to appease one little request? Obviously, Itachi hadn't clarified that when he asked Tsunade to remove her student from the 'uchiha compound' he had truly meant away from 'all' Uchihas in general, and that included himself and Shisui; Sasuke, of course, was too far gone to save. But no; Tsunade had taken his exact words to heart. She had removed her student's presence from the village and coerced the hokage into sending them (_him_) to find Jiraiya, for some odd and sick reason.

Yes, Itachi had figured it out. As soon as the man had read the letter, looked at Itachi and started giggling 'Oh, Tsunade you shouldn't have', it all clicked it Itachi's head. Thankfully the rest of the group had been busy claiming rooms at the bathhouse, leaving Itachi to deal with the man. That had been several weeks ago.

They were at another hot springs and another bathhouse. Yes, another. The women actually chose this one because of private message rooms, which they were currently in. Jiraiya had taught the young 'eager' minds a new justu and had also fed his favorite fan an unedited clip from his new book. This left Itachi alone with the man, and that disturbed him greatly.

"Itachi."

Red eyes flickered to the older man. "Yes?"

"Why do you hate me?" The man faked a hurt expression.

Itachi stared down Jiraiya, who was sitting across from him. "I do not approve nor wish to involve myself with you or your lifestyle."

"So distance is your answer." The man's expression became serious.

"Yes." It had worked for several weeks.

"Hmm." The man pulled out his 'notebook', as he liked to call it, and began writing. "Now do you do this with all of your relationships?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Do you create distance with all of your relationships?"

Itachi paused in thought. Did he? No. Space wise Shisui was completely in his face and mentality wise his best friend was known for using mind control. There was no distance between them and they were able to read each other in an instant; that was the reason they'd been placed on the same ANBU team. No words were needed between them when action was required.

"No."

The man scribbled something again. "So you are relatively close with your lover?"

"Lover?" Shisui was his best friend.

"Ah, I see. You've yet to admit your feelings." The man was writing even quicker. The sage sounded like the civilian counselors ANBU were forced to 'speak' to.

"Excuse me? Admit my feelings?" Where the heck was the man going?

"Yes, denial is the first stage of love."

Itachi stared at the man momentarily stunned. Jiraiya glanced up from his work. "Don't worry every man goes through such stages. "

Itachi blinked horrified. No, they were not going to have the 'stages of puberty' talk again; this was the whole reason Itachi tried to speak as little as possible to the man. Narrowing his eyes, the ANBU captain decided to take control of the conversation before it got out of hand. "Look, there is nothing to deny because there is no one I love." At least not the 'puberty' way the man was hinting at.

"Hmm." The man smiled. "So then, what is your relationship with Sakura Haruno?"

How had the conversation jumped to her? What was this man's ulterior motive? Why was he even asking him these questions? The man probably wanted to horrify him with some details of his 'book', like he had when Itachi had been ten. But jumping Sakura seemed odd. Maybe it was to throw him off guard.

Itachi thought for a second for a good answer. Ever since the 'Halloween' and 'removal from ANBU' incident she had lowered herself in his books by several ranks. "An acquaintance."

The older man raised an eyebrow. "Acquaintance… so you do keep distance in your relationships."

"No." Sakura had been demoted for the time being, so she was in a special situation.

"So Sakura and I are unique."

The man was completely out there. "I don't view you as an acquaintance."

"Really? Then what am I?"

"You're a being that should not exist inside a sophisticated human structure." The man had animal tendencies and brought others down with him.

The man stopped writing and looked up. "And what does that mean?"

"Not quite an enemy but a presence that should be ignored at all costs."

"And why is that?"

Itachi sighed at the man. This was getting him nowhere unless, of course, the man was leading him into a mental ambush… somehow…

"You waste time and effort contemplating human desires that do not contribute to the good of society. Not only that, you also corrupt the minds of men, woman and children with the filth that you capture in your written works."

"My literature?"

"Literature is a standard; what you write does not reach that standard."

"So then…" the man trailed off looking at the wall then back to Itachi. "I'd assume you'd prefer it if I did not put you as the main character's love interest in my next series then…"

Itachi twitched. He'd had enough. Standing, he glared down at the man smiling innocently up at him.

"Try it and you won't be writing anything else ever again."

"Really? How would you know anyways if you don't read my _literature_?"

Itachi let loose a snarl of disgust as he turned to leave the room. "If a random nukenin comes to pay you a visit make some noise. I'm sure someone will hear you."

Jiraiya heard the 'but they might not come save you'.

The door slammed shut and Jiraiya burst into a fit of giggles. "This is going to be good!"

Itahi stalked down the hall to the room he and Kakashi shared. Scanning quickly and realizing the man was not in the room, Itachi ran for his bag. Chocolate. He needed it to calm his soul.

Just one bite eased his tense muscles. Sighing, the man dropped the homemade chocolate back into the bag and fell backwards on the bed. He wanted to leave and if it wasn't for swearing himself to the hokage he would have been gone.

High pitched voices sounded in the hallway. Hana and Sakura had returned, hopefully in a better mood, to take care of the horrifying man.

Itachi closed his eyes as he heard the voice's sound diminish behind another closed door. He rubbed his head. This wasn't worth it. He was going to go on an assassination mission as soon as he got home. He needed some way to vent his anger or he was going to snap. A door opened down the hallway and it was followed by a two gentle taps on the door, then the handle turned.

The door opened and a familiar voice called out. "Kakashi-" The voice dropped noticing the collapsed figure on the bed.

Itachi noted that the girl was going to need to be trained on identifying chakra signatures.

"Itachi are you ok?" The girl actually sounded worried. It was a tad bit unusual for him to lose his cool on a mission.

"I'm fine, Sakura." As long as the sage stayed far away from him he would be fine. "It's your turn to babysit."

"What! No way, Naruto's next on the list!"

"Then go find Naruto" – and leave me in peace.

Itachi waited for the door to shut. It didn't. The footsteps drew closer until they reached the edge of the bed. A cool hand brushed his cheek before she placed it on his temple. The hand seemed to grow colder before he felt the rush of healing chakra. It was wonderful. It seemed to pull away all of his stress.

"How long have your eyes been activated."

Itachi opened his eyes to reveal onyx orbs. "Awhile." When he was frustrated it came naturally.

She leaned above him, her eyes closed in concentration.

"Close," She commanded.

His eyes shut.

"Open."

Her green eyes looked down at him with a worried expression. "You should go see Tsunade immediately when you return."

"Which will be whenever the idiot decides he has enough information for his next," Itachi couldn't even say book, "thing."

Sakura laughed before collapsing beside him on the bed. "Some of them have decent plot lines."

Itachi turned his head to look at the girl.

"Got you!" She laughed, "That's just what Kakashi says."

Itachi smiled and looked back up at the ceiling.

"But on a serious note," the girl sighed, shifting her entire body to rest her head on Itachi's chest. "He has written a book that was actually good. Naruto showed me. Maybe I'll get you a copy."

"Hn."

Sakura laughed. "I'm not joking, I'm being dead serious. It's a good book."

There was no reply and she didn't expect one. His hand lazily shifted through her hair and he felt her relax.

"I could sleep right here."

"Did you take your medicine?"

Silence greeted his question. No, he did not play that game. He shoved the girl diagonally off the bed.

"Go get Naruto."

"Alright, alright." The woman cracked her back and looked over her shoulder. Quietly she leaned down and picked up the chocolate that was peeking out of his bag. "Get some sleep, Itachi." She patted the bed gently.

At no reply she shut the door quietly, smiling at the prize in her hand. "Now where did that yellow headed rat go off to?"

Jiraiya placed his wood piece back into the wall and gave a quiet chuckle. Peep holes were the entire reason he went to the bathhouses.

He was now sure they were a lot more than just 'acquaintances'. That was for certain. There was no doubt he was going to be staying in his home village a little longer than he'd originally planned.

But…

This book was going to be on the top charts for weeks.


	15. Revenge

****Well this is the next chapter in CSE, I don't own Naruto and I am done with major tests! Of course, now I have scholarships to fill out, but at least I got accepted into the college of my choice, now the need to find the money to pay for it . sorry my own probs.

Please enjoy

Z.z

P.s. please participate in the poll on my profile page, I would greatly appreciate feed back.****

**Revenge **

In which a plan is instigated and Itachi's sadistic side begins to show.

He knew. Yes, he knew what she'd done. Just when she was starting to or appearing to (in better words) become more mature, she went off and did something like this.

He knew she was the one that stole _his_ chocolate.

No doubt she had gobbled it down and not had a second thought. Normally, he wouldn't mind. That was just the way she was and he had accepted that fact a long time ago. But he wasn't going to let it go. Not this time and definitely not under their current situation. They were still babysitting and the mission didn't appear to ending any time soon, even though Itachi had written several, twenty page letters to the hokage to get them out.

It was time for him to give into one of his more sadistic pleasures. If he couldn't get relief through chocolate he would get it another way. And it was now the perfect time to instigate his scheme.

Jiraiya had disappeared, no doubt to spy on some poor woman bathing. Kakashi had taken Hana to train nin-dogs. Shisui had decided Sasuke needed to learn some Uchiha trade secrets. And Naruto had been sent to find Jiraiya, a wild goose chase in Itachi's opinion. This all meant one thing. Itachi was now left alone with the villainous, pink-haired woman, who would soon be paying for her crimes.

All he needed to do was lay down the bait and everything would fall together.

"Sakura," He let his voice drop to a low, smooth tone.

She shivered. Good, her instincts had keyed in on his anger. "Yes?"

"Are you planning to try out for ANBU?"

She straightened her shoulders, relieved that danger had passed. She now looked him in the eye, no longer afraid that he had found out what she had done. "Why do you ask?"

"My brother has mentioned it. I was curious if team seven planned to move up as a group." His father had actually cornered his brother into talking about it at dinner. Even though his brother had given elusive answers, Itachi knew the only reason why the subject was never approached was due to the fact all of her teammates were protective over her. It was reasonable; a male's instinct reaction was to protect a female, the procreator of the breed and also weaker gender. That wasn't to say Sakura was weak, the woman could demolish a forest in seconds; but she wasn't strong enough to be ANBU, at least not yet.

Sakura blinked; obviously they'd never spoken in front of her about the subject. "I… I don't know."

"Ah." His plan was simple and already working. Itachi almost felt sorry for the girl, how was she to know the consequences of stealing his sanity (chocolate)? He picked up his book.

"I'm sorry; I probably shouldn't have said anything." He opened and looked at the pages. He withheld the smile forming on his lips; all he had to do was wait.

"Do you think they'll join?" _and leave me?_

"Everyone has the option of trying out. But only the best of the best are taken. All ANBU are required to re-try out each year, so not only are they competing against other initiates but seniors as well." Usually only a certain percentage or less could be taken.

Sakura was fidgeting; the information that she might be left was distressing her. And to think, all of her mental anguish could have been spared if she'd just let him be.

"Do you think they could make it?"

"Anything is possible." This information only disturbed her more.

"Do you think I could make it?"

Itachi shrugged. "Anything is possible. "

"Don't play crap with me. Tell me the truth!"

Itachi watched the woman turn red with anger. "How long can you go without sleep?"

"Two weeks or more on soldier pills." She sounded very proud of that fact.

That was fairly decent, Shisui cut off at about a week and a half before he became delirious. He wondered how her mental stableness at that point. She seemed to read his mind.

"It was during the skirmishes on Sound's border several months ago. The hospital was constantly flooded with injuries of civilians and ninja for four weeks. Everyone was on duty, and there were non-stop surgeries. Of course, I didn't use my chakra each time, for I've a small pool; but I helped cut and sew major gashes and arteries. During the third week I caught a full day of sleep but was then back on the job. "

Itachi nodded, that was very impressive. But more was needed besides an active mind. "How well can you cast a gen-jutsu?"

"Not too well…"

"As a medic-nin for a squad you would need to specialize in such an area so you could get away from enemies and buy time to save your comrades." Sakura flinched at his remark. He was only getting started. "Can you identify chakra signatures?"

"I've read several-"

"Have you ever put it into action? How would you know if one of your comrades had been replaced, or how would you find your squad during a recon, how-"

"I got it!" Her lower lip trembled. "I wouldn't make it into ANBU…"

Itachi nodded, "that would be correct." The truth was none of team seven (excluding Kakashi) would make ANBU. She wasn't privy to that knowledge though.

Now all he had to do was let the cards play out, so to speak. He had plenty of time on his hands, thanks to the hokage who had replied to his letters with a simple 'Stay on the mission.' He distracted himself by flipping a page of his book. Haiku was such a beautiful prose.

He knew her character. Once faced with defeat she would immediately succumb to self-pity. Then all he had to do was give her a clue in the right direction and she'd jump to it; determined and consumed with perfection.

Almost like an Uchiha.

It was no wonder the elders liked her so much. Already he heard whispered plans of arranging a marriage between her and his dear, sweet brother. Itachi hid a smile behind his hand. He pitied anyone who married her. She'd grown into a stubborn and demon-tempered woman. If the man wasn't stronger than her he would probably end up submitting to any of her (outrageous) requests within a month. It was likely his brother wasn't strong enough; even if he was an Uchiha he was weak. Not that anyone would say anything when it happened because his father was under Mikoto's thumb.

If she did marry his little brother he wouldn't have to deal with her all the time. Then he sighed. Now that he thought about it if she was an 'Uchiha' her chakra-enhanced hands of wreckage would be under the clan's responsibility. In other words, she would be the clan leader's responsibility, which would be him.

She was not going to marry his brother. The outcome would eventually lead to death of the Uchiha clan by poverty (or flying rocks). Maybe he could hint at a Hyuuga to take her. What better way to fix inter-clan relationships then by offering the 'favorite' outsider of the Uchihas?

He felt sorry for the Hyuugas; there was no doubt that they would buy it.

"So they're going to leave me?" The squeaking voice brought him back to the present. She was wiping her eyes and coughing as she tried to hold back sobs.

"Just because you're not ready now doesn't mean you'll never be."

He watched her shaking form still as she took in his information. A glint appeared in her eyes after she analyzed his words, just as he planned. Her hand scrunched into a fist before she slammed it on the wooden table separating them, the table bent under the impact.

Her green eyes narrowed with determination as she stared into onyx eyes. "How long until I'm ANBU ready?"

He smirked; she would regret ever beginning this conversation. "Depends on how hard you train."

"If I train hard?"

"Thirteen to fifteen months, only because I heard Kakashi mention that you have a slight talent in gen-jutsu and you have excellent chakra control." It would take his brother about ten months, if he was serious, and Naruto about the same as Sakura, but it was due to the demon inside of him. Naruto would have be constantly tested and observed before he would be able to enter.

Her eyes stared past him as she calculated his answer. Would she want to take so much time out of her life only for every task after to be worse than the one before? Yes, if that meant staying with her team. She would do anything for them and that was what Itachi was counting on.

Now it was time to put his scheme into action. "I'm sure Tsunade and Kakashi will teach you when they have the time."

Both knew they were busy (or lazy) people.

"Assuming they are ok with you trying out for ANBU."

Both were over protective.

Itachi turned back to his book, seemingly unperturbed. Revenge was such a beautiful thing. Soon she would realize that being taught by him was her only option. Teaching was Itachi favorite thing to do, because there were so many unique, creative, sadistic methods to choose from.

"Could you teach me?"

Itachi looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I would but Tsunade's orders."

Sakura's eyebrows scrunched together.

Who else could teach her? Genma was Kakashi's little tattle tale. Hana was an operative who specialized in scents. Shisui was a perverted mind controlling man. There was only one choice.

"We don't have to tell Tsunade about it." Her green eyes flickered to the floor, in a portrayal of sly innocence.

If only the girl knew. "Sakura, I respect Tsunade's-"

"Please!" She was now on the table bowing on her knees before him. "I don't want to be left behind."

Itachi sighed 'giving in'. He patted the top of her head. "An ANBU operative needs to have a balance in all arts; you have a lot of work ahead of you."

"Can we start with chakra identification?" She'd chosen the most brutal blow to her esteem.

"Of course. Tell me what you know then I'll start you off with the basics." Then they'd play a death game of hide-and-go-seek just for fun.

The girl gladly began rattling off everything she'd read in books, and Itachi listened intently.

Behind the wall Jiraiya chuckled. "And so the plot thickens." The man paused. "A student and teacher relationship…Ooh naughty Itachi, that's taboo."


	16. Extreme Measures

_~ CSoE, ^-^ I am now able to update!_

_ooo if you have time, please take the time to visit my profile page to answer my poll on chapter labels. Please and thank you!_

_I hope you enjoy and thank you all for reviewing; I'm sorry I was unable to reply to them. _

_Z.z~_

**Extreme Measures**

It had been eight months since they'd returned to the leaf village. And for those eight months he had been tailing the pair. He'd been the fly on the walls, window sills, and trees (literally he'd been trying out a new transformation jutsu.) During the time he watched the young woman go through the most brutal (but effective) training style he'd ever seen. But seeing a massively destructive woman become more of a deadly weapon wasn't what he needed.

They were an excellent pair of characters. Their lives were full of secret meetings and midnight training sessions; of course, this was because they were trying to avoid being discovered by Tsunade, Kakashi and every shinobi that might turn Itachi in. The problem was it was only training.

Their relationship never changed.

And that was driving Jiraiya insane. There had been no progression in the form of intimacy. He needed a good plot, good characters and a good ending; the pair's stagnant relationship wouldn't sell.

He needed them to change. The only word he could use to explain their association was 'childish'. They were children playing a farfetched, weird game of tag and return. At one point Sakura would be angry, snarl and yell at Itachi; in return Itachi would throw shuriken at her. The two of them were never going to get anywhere. Something had to be done.

His editors had finished the last book of his latest Icha Icha series; and when he told them he was working on something else, they'd demanded a preview. He'd given them a glimpse; a small scene from the bathhouse. They loved it. Now they needed a first draft. And Jiraiya wanted the characters and plot to be as real as possible, so he needed something from the two.

But tainting a relationship with purposeful outside influence was unethical in Jiraiya's opinion; it was like flawing a scientific experiment to prove a theory. But after seven months Jiraiya knew that a spark was needed (not just for his first book to end but for the poor kids to actually get together).

He had tried to drop a couple hints to Kakashi and that had done everything but help. As much as Kakashi claimed to be his biggest fan, when any suggestion of Sakura being 'an interesting protagonist' had been brought up Kakashi had not appreciated it (to put it nicely and to exclude the fact a swirling sharingan had been present).

He'd then gone to Shisui. Hinting about changing the asexualism of his younger cousin had gotten Jiraiya a blank stare and then a sigh accompanied by: "I've tried everything already."

It had then taken him one month to think of a plan, which would suit his needs and theirs. Now all he had to do was give Itachi something suggestive. After watching the man for so long, Jiraiya now knew how to go about talking to the stoic individual, which was just another way of saying he was going to have to be very blatant. The kid didn't get social implications; which would work to his advantage in this case.

"Itachi," Jiraiya waved, he'd cornered Itachi on a busy street; there was no way the man could run and not have word reach his father.

Jiraiya smiled as he began to walk next to Itachi, who was obviously trying not to look at him.

"Itachi."

The obsidian eyes stared down at him with irritation. "Yes."

"There is something I wish to speak with you about."

The irritation flickered with horror (why? Jiraiya didn't know) then to an expressionless facade. "I am rather busy."

"Ah, I see; secret training sessions with Tsunade's pupil are very important. Don't worry, I understand."

The man froze in his step. He was caught like a fly in a frog's stomach. There was no escape. Itachi extended an arm and guided Jiraiya to the side of the busy road. There they stopped. "How may I help you?"

He wasn't really that busy. He was shopping for his mother, the dear boy. Jiraiya knew every first and mid-week Wednesday of the month was Itachi's turn to gather groceries for the main Uchiha household. He'd followed (stalked) the boy enough to know almost all of the clan politics as well; which was slightly scary if he started to think about it. The research he'd done for the book would not go in vain if he could help it.

"I have stumbled upon your training sessions once or twice," now an excuse, "the waterfall is my favorite place to practice some of my water jutsus."

"And…" The eyes had narrowed to a warning.

"I have taken note that she has improved greatly. But, I believe you may be failing greatly in the area of being a teacher." That was a direct insult and Uchihas did not take insults well.

"And how might I be failing?" He was clearly upset now.

"You're obviously training her for ANBU."

Itachi nodded his head.

Jiraiya put on his serious face. "Keep in mind I am not trying to be perverted, I am just looking out for Sakura's best interest." Which he was in an offhand way, she needed a good husband. "All the times I've seen you, you've been working on combat. As a female ANBU officer though, she will have to deal with seduction missions. You understand that don't you?"

Itachi blinked, that hadn't occurred to him. Itachi shook his head as if to shake the thought from his head. "She will be instated as a medic-nin; she won't be issued seduction missions."

Jiraiya sighed; he'd guess the boy was going to say that, the man was a tad bit predictable. "We both know that just because someone is instated as one thing doesn't mean they won't take on a different mission when it's necessary. If you prevent any such missions from going to her it will be showed as favoritism. "

Itachi's lips twitched and he stared past Jiraiya; he was agitated, probably from worry.

"How do you teach… such things?" He finally asked.

That hadn't been a question Jiraiya expected. Jiraiya paused. _How did one teach seduction? _

Jiraiya opened his mouth, and then shut it. No. He couldn't give any hints. He'd already influenced too much. This was something Itachi (his male protagonist) was going to have to figure out on his own. He patted Itachi's shoulder, "That I do not know."

"Good luck," he turned to leave then paused, "I won't tell anyone, don't worry; you don't have to change your spot I'll just find a new one. It's a good idea to train her. Tsunade's too busy and Kakashi is too pre-occupied with the boys." He turned and walked into the crowd, giving a back handed wave.

At a safe distance, he turned around.

Itachi was still staring off into the distance. Maybe he should have given a hint…

~Z.z~

He decided to follow Sakura for the rest of the day; he wanted the male protagonist's (...) Itachi's solution to be a surprise. The girl was working a shift at the hospital. After several patients, Jiriaya finally decided to check in with his co-conspirator, the one who'd given him his amazing story.

He knocked on the door before walking in. Then he dodged one of the large plastic toads he'd given Tsunade for her birthday. "Hello?"

The woman's head was hung over paperwork and her hand was messaging her forehead and temples. She glanced up; her eyes were narrowed in hazel slits. She blinked realizing who it was. Then she smiled, the cruel smile he was so fond of…

"Well, how goes your research?"

She didn't know about the training nor would she find out, at least not until he published his book.

"It's tiring." Which it was… If he learned anything out of the whole 'research project' it was that the protégé of the Uchiha clan was more paranoid than Orochimaru the time Jiraiya spent an entire year stalking Orochimaru to discover the man's true gender (he'd been telling the truth to Jiraiya's ultimate disappointment). Jiraiya gave a smirk; it was no wonder the guy turned into a psycho after everything he did to him. So far, after eight months, the Uchiha heir had yet to take the same path home; but the good news was, Jiraiya now knew at least five-hundred different ways to get into the compound undetected.

"I finally had to give them a little push," Jiraiya sighed, "the only thing they ever do is talk." And fight. They fought a lot.

Tsunade tapped her fingers. She wanted more gossip than that. Her lips were twitching too, which meant she either thought he was lying or looking at her chest.

He smiled, "They have an innocent relationship." Which was true…except for the fact they were going behind people's backs to be 'student-and-teacher'.

Tsunade growled.

"Ok maybe not so innocent." Their entire relationship was bent on not having anyone find out about them after all.

Tsunade smiled, she was getting somewhere. Her smile was replaced with a frown and her brows touched. "Is he treating her well?"

"He's being a perfect gentleman," he was only throwing sharp objects at non-vital organs.

"Good. He better not be doing anything creepy like using his bloodline…" Tsunade coughed and hid a blush.

Jiraiya snickered, she had such a dirty mind; she was definitely his lady.

"He isn't, right?"

Jiraiya stopped; Itachi had been teaching Sakura how to break out of a genjutsus. He was just going to have to try and lie. "Well, that-"

"He is!" Tsunade practically screeched. She sounded excited… "He is," she snarled quickly in horror and disgust, trying to cover herself.

"Don't worry, Sakura doesn't mind," which was completely true; after she'd break out covered in sweat screaming about logs she'd take a five minute break before demanding that he put her under a genjutsu again.

"Really?" Tsunade leaned in, a light in her eyes.

"It gives her an excuse to kick him in the shin," again it was the truth: Itachi wouldn't dodge when she was screaming about log attacks, "he knows she enjoys having the upper hand in their relationship." Perhaps that was a stretch…

Tsunade blinked in surprise; the reasoning wasn't what she had expected. She gave an evil grin. "She should have some control over him. But," her grin widened, "who would have thought Itachi was someone who used his sharingan to look at women." She rubbed her hands together, glad to have some dirt on the Uchiha.

He'd thought she meant the genjutsu ability; oh well, it was just playing in his favor. "I know I would if I had the sharingan."

…

That hadn't been the right thing to say.

Several seconds later a Jiraiya shaped hole was found in Tsunade's wall.

Z.z

_Yes, I know I milk the log situation (which I've never really clarified) too much. Be imaginative. You have one of the best genjutsuist in the world trying out a genjutsu that transforms the idea of a simple transformation jutsu (log) into a nightmare. _

_Maybe I'll write about it… dunno. _


	17. Mother Knows Best

Wow I actually got this one up… I really should have been studying for a test. It seems I must procrastinate on something all the time; so when test times come around it seems my story updates boost. Lol.

Anyways: as always I hope you enjoy and reviews are always appreciated and welcome.

Thank you for your time, I own nothing but a deranged plot. Mikoto is by far my favorite character to write… of course Itachi is pretty fun too and together… I had a blast.

Z.z

**Mother Knows Best**

Mikoto knew her children well. She knew every odd tomato tendency, every fear of spiders, every crazy or abstract thought and every stalking method, one of which she was currently undergoing. As a child, Itachi had developed the skill by practicing it on her. At five, it had been adorable. At ten, he'd been honing his skills. At sixteen, he'd scared the living crap out of her causing her to drop her laundry in the river. At eighteen, she began re-sharpening her ninja skills, specifically in the area of detection, for she had realized that the prey-stalking-tendency was a subconscious habit the child had picked up. (She could only be thankful that Sasuke had not picked up the habit; one child following her around all day could be annoying, if it had been both she would have gone insane and paranoid.)

The one odd and maddening thing Mikoto noticed was that Itachi only did it to her. The subconscious action meant he was seeking her out, to ask her some grand question of the universe which normally led to a rather stressful debate from a large list of topics…

When she deemed two hours long enough to make him wait, she made her way next to the building he was currently on top of.

"Would you care to join me for tea, Itachi?" she asked.

Within a second he was at her side. He didn't even make a sound. He nodded his head, but it was obvious he was still in thought. From routine he held his arm out for her, which she took to lead him through the crowd to the nearest tea house.

"Green," she told the waiter as they sat down in a secluded booth. When he left she turned her attention to her son.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

His onyx eyes flickered briefly about their surrounding before his eyes focused upon her. He sighed and shifted awkwardly.

"Should we take our tea elsewhere?"

His eyes scanned the room, noting that no one was near them and those that were residing in the building were civilians. "No."

The server placed the pot and cups on the table, and then moved on.

"Well—" Mikoto said trying to lead him to speak.

"I-I am not quite sure who to go to…"

Mikoto's attitude dropped, it had been years, perhaps a decade, since her baby needed outside assistance and asked for her. "Why so?" she asked.

"My friends are… Are not as trustworthy as I would hope to have…"

The poor dear. One of her hands brushed at the arm he had on the table, the other poured them both tea.

"Shisui would sell me for money—"

Literally it had almost happened if Mikoto hadn't found the boys by the black market dealer.

"—And Hana would use any information against me to get a day off work…"

Hmm. Yes, his friends became a tad bit manipulative when it came to getting something they wanted. In a way, though, it could be her moment to once again be her baby's advisor. Mikoto squeezed the man's hand.

"You ask me whatever you want," she said. She would always love her boy and never sell him out to anybody. Of course, she might use some of the knowledge for his own wellbeing but the only person she'd ever give information too would be his father. She sipped her tea.

"How do you seduce a man?"

If Mikoto had been a lesser woman she would have spewed the tea across the table. Instead the woman swallowed the tea with some difficulty and cleared her throat by covering her mouth. Her mind felt like a mushy bog; never would she have expected such words from her eldest. Was her planning for not? How had it failed? The pink haired girl was supposed to ravage his heart, take care of the elders and give her granbabies! This would not do. Sasuke was a complete idiot around the girl and thought of her as his sister.

"Kaa-san?" Itachi asked watching his mother's face turn a very pale white.

The woman was staring past her son. It couldn't be… She would be stuck with the elders forever…

The man reached out and touched her shoulder.

The black eyes focused back on her son. "Who?"

His head tilted to the side, "What?"

"What man?" Mikoto clarified.

"Any?" The brows were closing in and that was Mikoto's clue.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked. If the hokage was sending her son on another seduction mission she would personally allow the third to experience how deadly the poisons she made were. He could only hope that Tsunade found a cure in time. She would have thought the hokage would have known better.

The Itachi's eyes flickered side to side as he analyzed the room and avoided her question.

She wasn't going to play a guessing game with him. That was for certain. "Spit it out now," she commanded. There might be still hope and she either wanted it crushed or raised.

"I have been training Sakura for ANBU, but without the permission of Tsunade or Kakashi," the man dipped his head in apology.

Yes! Her mind screamed, the girl was hers…-Cough-… His. The girl was her son's…

"J – A shinobi teacher said that although Sakura will be instated as a medic-nin she would still have to complete such missions," he said, his voice ringing with disgust as the word 'missions'.

Her boy's first two had gone horrible, both targets slaughtered and her baby traumatized; she demanded audience with the Third and he'd been a fool enough to let her into his office.

"She needs to be… prepared for such things. I don't know…" the man was at a loss for words so he picked up his glass of tea and began drinking.

The woman nodded to herself it was true that she would need to be prepared. "What teacher suggested you train her in such arts?" Mikoto asked. A woman should teach a woman such things.

"Jiraiya…" At the look of the dark shadow on his mother's face the man quickly clarified, "he seemed truly worried about Sakura. He's right; she needs to be trained on all areas…"

The underground fanbase of Jiraiya had rumors of a new book. Of course, Mikoto knew that the rumors were true after she hunted down (she meant asked nicely) for one of the editors to come drink tea with her. So the book as on her son and the girl… Mikoto inwardly smiled, she couldn't wait to read it. But, she needed to deal with what was at hand.

"All women are given seduction lessons during their academy years and if Sakura were to take on such a mission in ANBU she would be assigned a woman trainer," Mikoto clarified for her son. Of course… It would make for an interesting scene in a book. "But, perhaps Jiraiya's words have some weight. I doubt Sakura has been on any seduction mission. It might help her if she knew what to expect. Maybe you could have her try out some seduction on you?"

Mikoto's eyes glinted, this would all work out to her favor.

"Why would I want her to try it out on me? It would make our relationship…awkward and that of her future husband."

"Her future husband?" did her boy not assume it was going to be him?

"Yes, I plan on giving her hand to a Hyuga clan member. She is well respected and no doubt it would improve the bonds between us," he sounded happy and confident.

"That is not a good idea," Mikoto said. The boy thought he could steal her freedom. At his confusion, she smiled. "It would not improve the bonds between clans it may in fact instigate a war. Sakura comes to you for advice and information. The Hyuga clan would view it as two ways. One, that she is just an informant sneaking ideas and secrets of their clan to us. Or two, her escapes to you are infidelity."

The man's eyes widened slightly. "I never viewed it as such, kaa-san."

She half stood and patted the man's head. "I understand it did appear to be a good idea on the surface."

The man nodded.

"But I am curious… Why give her away?"

Itachi sighed, "Sasuke has no control over her and the elders were beginning to gossip about a marriage between them. The Uchiha clan cannot afford upheaved trees, broken walls, or boulders being thrown around. "

"Why must it be Sasuke that gets her?" Her boy would get it, eventually…

"Then you want Shisui—" Itachi made a rather odd face as if seeing that the two would bring destruction upon the clan.

"No. I want you to take her," said Mikoto. Sometimes it was just easier to be point blank with the boy.

Itachi blinked for a second as if the words weren't sinking in too well.

She was going to have to increase his confidence. "Like you said, the Uchiha clan cannot afford damages and you're the only one who could possibly take her on in combat."

The man nodded, he was one of the few that dared get in the way of her fists; of course, he was quick to move out of the way but—

"Just think. If the two of you were together, people wouldn't question about the two of you training together. Tsunade couldn't do anything about it because it's something shinobi couples do," she'd just lied through her teeth but her son didn't know that.

The flicker in his eyes immediately told Mikoto her reasoning had just won her a daughter-in-law.

"I'll ask for her hand in marriage," Itachi said standing.

Mikoto's hand bolted out, snatching the ANBU captain's sleeve and pulled him down. "You will not do what your father did." His socially awkward genes ran far too deep in them.

"But it worked… He got you," Itachi said with confusion.

To most women it would have been an 'aww sweetheart' moment, but to Mikoto it was not. "No, he may have told you that's what happened; but that's not what happened. He proposed to me out of nowhere and I said, 'No, but if you take me out to dinner once a week and pay for the next twelve months I'll think about a different answer.'"

"But… He said you two were betrothed."

"Your father says a lot of things, that doesn't mean they are true," Mikoto growled. If Itachi had done what Fugaku had there was no doubt that Sakura would turn heels and run; probably right into the arms of Hyuga.

She watched her son's perplexed expression and sighed. "Look, don't listen to your father. You don't propose until after you've courted." She was probably going to have to inform Sasuke of the matter as well. Joy…

Itachi gave a nod and then smirked with evil intent, "Of course."

She wondered exactly what courting meant to Itachi…

"Thank you for your insight, kaa-san," Itachi said rising. He gave quick bow and disappeared with a genjutsu; to plan, most likely.

Mikoto smiled and left money for the tea on the table. It was time she found Jiraiya and got an exclusive look at his new book. Of course, it was for her son's sake; not the fact that she could give Kakashi, the supposed number one fan, a run for his money.


	18. Touché

_At first I was like this is going to be x.x but then I got an amazing idea. _

_Please enjoy this chapter of CSE _

_Oh and thank you all for your reviews, I really appreciate them -.^ _

_Hmmm and their ages... Yes, they are around 17 (maybe 18) and 21 (22). Adult-ish._

_Z.z _

**Chapter 18: Touché **

"Oh, I don't think so," she said. Her green eyes glared up at him as if he was an enemy-nin. Her nose twitched to the side at no reply. Usually she would play his 'waiting' game but she wasn't, not when he had just made such a horrifying statement.

"It is so wrong," she spoke for him, her mouthing twisting downward in disgust, "on so many levels."

"I-" he began. Then he wanted to talk, to explain himself. She wasn't going to let him.

"I can't believe you would suggest something like that," a blush then began to faintly paint her cheeks. "It's not that I don't like you…"her blush grew darker, "actually I…umm—" suddenly the reason she was talking occurred to her, "Look! To even suggest something like that is demeaning. If you want to go—"

He put one finger to her lips and she closed her mouth. "It is serious. And in no way was I trying to demoralize you."

Her eyes didn't lose their hard stare, but the tense muscles in her shoulders and back relaxed.

"It will aid you in your hand-to-hand combat ability too," he said trying to reason with her.

She drew herself up as tall as she could; her lips turned up like a snake about to release its venom. "Oh really?" Her eyes went back to trying to burn a hole through him.

He sighed realizing that speaking would no longer do any good. He was going to have to prove it to her.

Within a second he pinned her against the closest tree, his hand closing around her throat squeezing her windpipe. Her body reacted…incorrectly. Her hands tried to claw at his face, but they failed to reach so they settled for trying to rip skin off of his arm. He had planned ahead of time; he was wearing sleeves and gloves.

After noticing that her flaying limbs were doing no good, she allowed chakra to flow into her hands, turning them green. He only had to reinforce his own arm and body with chakra to take the hit.

"Stop, think, breath. Get out," he commanded.

Her body was stiffening and her eyes were beginning to un-focus. She was going to pass out if she did not save herself.

He heard the cracking of the tree before he felt her action. She was pushing off the tree, a novice and idiotic move. She would snap her neck if he did not remove the pressure on her throat. He removed his grip as she came flying at him. Her fist glowed brightly; she was using excess chakra, aiming to punch him in the face. He sidestepped catching her wrist then he proceeded to use her momentum to twirl her like a ballerina. Her punching hand wrapped around her neck and tightened as he held it with his right hand. His left hand bound her other hand to her body as he gripped her around the upper waist, holding her back to him as if in an embrace. "Wrong," he commented with a whisper in her ear.

Her leg swung out as if to hit his shin or higher, but she was too slow. He slid her other foot from under her and she fell.

Before she could gather herself, he sat on top of her stomach, restraining her arms with his legs and knees.

"You failed your mission. You would have either died with that tree act or they would have saved you to torture, enslave, or rape you. Do you understand how importance this is now?" His coal eyes bore into hers.

Her expression softened and she relaxed beneath him. "Yes."

He released her hands and stood, offering her support in getting up. She allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"We'll be going over choke holds, grabs, and awkward positioning. We won't move on until I'm satisfied with your reaction and your ability to get yourself out of the situations and leave with the upper hand." It was going to be a long night. Already the world was dark around them as the village lights did not penetrate through the trees, and the full light of the moon did not penetrate through the dark cloud cover. It was not the opportune time to teach getting out of situations; he would have preferred it to be completely pitch black.

"Awkward positioning?" she asked.

"You're trying to seduce a man," he answered as if it should have been obvious.

"Oh, no. You think I'm just going to give a lap dance for you?" Sakura growled, already beginning to tense once again with her face already turning red.

"A what?" Itachi's eyes brows raised, "My lap is not a flat surface, it would be extremely difficult to keep balance-"

"That's not what I meant," Sakura sighed. "If you think you're going to practice 'awkward' positioning on me, you're dead wrong."

Itachi tilted his head to the side, "I believe those would be the most important ones to practice, getting out can be rather…complicated."

Her blush darkened. "Look, there is no way I'm going to dress down and-"

"I would prefer you to keep your clothes on. As much as the beauty of your body is appreciated, I believe it would be considered inappropriate for us to know the other's body that well until we are married."

Green eyes blinked for a second, "you think I'm pretty?"

"Of course you're pretty," he said with sigh; they were having a pointless conversation.

"You seriously think I'm beautiful?"

"That wasn't the point of the conversation, but yes, you are beautiful, Sakura. You already are familiar with such facts; there is no point in repetition. The point was: keep your clothes on," he sighed, there was something wrong with this conversation but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Her blush started to turn purple, but it was unnoticeable in the dark.

"These 'awkward' positionings can come up in normal combat too, especially in closed quarters. They occur when your movability has been limited due to another enemy-nins body. As much as you think plowing them with chakra enhanced punches fixes the problem, ANBU requires more subtlety than dismembered body parts and wall holes that look human. There is no point in removing clothing. I would hope you are a better shinobi than to be caught in a bathhouse. On that note, we will not be using weapons until later, because during seduction missions the point is to refrain from being identified as a shinobi. Most women do keep a poisoned senibon though, but again, we will go over it later. Do we have an understanding?"

Sakura huffed, the blush having disappeared with his long speech. "Yeah."

"Hmm. You don't appear to be very excited about this lesson even though it will be extremely useful-"

She stared at him in disbelief, "Basically I have to get pinned, choked and throttled until a sadistic ANBU captain believes he's had enough fun for the night. You expect me to be happy about it?"

He smiled, "You make it sound awful. How about I give you some motivation?"

Immediately she bolted backward as if he had struck her. "No, no I'm happy; really excited! Let's go, I want to learn how to kick butt!" She laughed but it was full of worry.

"Not all motivation means punishment. There are rewards too. This is a difficult subject. How about… If you manage to get most of the escaping choke hold patterns down within the next three hours, I'll buy you dinner."

At that her ears seemed to perk up. Her eyes regarded him with suspicion, "What's the catch?"

"I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it..." he put his fingers to his lips in thought as she looked on in horror. "If you get it, you can decide the place and time. If you don't, I choose the place and time. I'll still pay; it would be unchivalrous otherwise."

She gnawed at her bottom lip, "Three hours?"

"Yes and I'm not asking for perfection."

She then smiled, "Deal." She then winked, "You better have a lot of money stashed away; I have exquisite taste."

He gave a chuckle, "and I hope you have the stomach for spicy food."

She growled at him, "We'll have to see about that."

He smiled, who knew it could be so easy to get a date?

"Let's go," she said bouncing up and down, "I have a free dinner to win."

"Very well, for a choke hold you want to grab as close to the thumb as possible and pull across your chest and out. It doesn't matter their strength, their muscles provide no assistance and add in your leverage then even if their grip was chakra enhanced you'd be able to remove their hand. Now try to choke me and you'll see what I mean."

Z.z

Jiraiya burst into laughter as he deemed himself out of earshot of the training shinobi. "Your son doesn't even know what a lap dance is… You've deprived him."

Mikoto glared at the man at her side, "He's innocent just as he's supposed to be."

"Even if he got a woman he wouldn't know what to do with her. 'My point was: keep your clothes on'," Jiraiya mocked.

"My son is a perfect gentleman."

"He's an awful protagonist."

"He's a perfect protagonist."

"Really how so?" The white haired man snickered, "He doesn't do anything to move the story along."

"That's how he's perfect. Think about it. Your series could be at least eight books long, more than forty-thousand words long, and people would continue to read it just to see if the two ever end up together."

"Touché, Mikoto, touché."


	19. Cruel

_**Warning:**__ (Because IceBiship suggested it would be most prominent to warn my dear readers) .The characters are not canonized and personalities/relationships/thoughts have been exaggerated for humor purposes only. In no way have I written this to offend anybody; if I have offended you, you have my sincere apology. _

_I haven't truly updated CSoE in awhile, my funny bunnies seemed to have left me all alone. I did add a chapter to the end of chapter 10 a couple months ago… but no, not a real update. _

_Well… I'm not sure I'm ok with this chapter (I might delete it) but I thought I'd put something up because it's been a while (five months or so for this piece). Please enjoy. Oh, and thank you for your reviews and messages, I greatly appreciate them whether critiquing, expressing enjoyment, confusion etc. (although if you are unhappy/angry/displeased at me, please try to soften your words, but don't let me off the hook; I just have found I'm more sensitive than I believed myself to be.) _

_Anyhow, sorry for the long intro… Thank you for taking the time to read my work and may God bless you,_

_Z.z_

_p.s. (I know Collapse is due next on my profile, but trust me… I may not update for another several months if we wait for that one.)_

* * *

**Cruel**

In his entire life, Itachi could never remember wanting something more than he did at the moment. He was a logical person; therefore most of his goals were within reason. At times, when he was in the whimsical mood, he dreamed of creating world peace, but he knew the facts surrounding such an event was impossible. His other objectives were sensible and well thought out. His training plan for the next two years had already been planned so that his chakra pool would be increase by about a third. He had several goals pertaining to his relationship with Sakura, such as setting money aside to buy her a present for Christmas. He also made other plans in case his relationship with Sakura never went passed friendship; these included threatening or negotiating with a civilian or non-clan man to get them to ask Sakura out before another member of a major clan were to do so. After all, he had very limited amount a friends and he tried to keep the ones he had. Yes, he and Sakura were indeed friends. After spending so much time together he deemed the word appropriate enough to fit their circumstances. At the very least, he considered her as an adopted sister (in the context of caring for her); he would make sure she found a good man by his standards.

But back to the point, today, logic was far from his mind. His key to good judgment had always been the balancing act of distancing himself away from the situation so he could determine the best and most appropriate way to deal with said situation. He was not distant at the moment. And the proximity was pushing him from the edge of realism into the abyss of irrationality.

But it was final. He was going to be hokage.

And once he set his mind to something, rarely had he ever backed down. After all, he wasn't just going to do it for himself. He was going to save Kohona. The third, the fire lord and the rest of the jounin population had been put under a genjutsu of befuddlement; there could be no other conclusion unless they were all insane to have chosen the now current hokage, the fifth.

How could the man have been nominated to begin with? Why not Tsunade? Kakashi? How about Orochimaru? At least then the destruction of Kohona would be immediate instead of the now doomed slow progression of madness. Even his little brother's loud-mouthed friend looked to be the better choice in comparison. When the vote had been taken, he'd thought it was a joke. He never even stopped and considered the possibility of the man getting one vote, let alone the majority.

The crowded streets applauded the naming of the new hokage. In the center of a raised platform the third placed the hat on the new hokage's head… albeit with some difficulty, but it only made the crowd laugh and howl louder. Itachi looked around at his fellow men and women. At such a moment in time he could feel no pride towards his home village. Surely, they'd become the laughing stock of the entire world.

The cheering continued though, as if the audience was ignorant of who the man was, or more precisely what degradation he wrought. The fifth waved to the crowd after the hat finally seemed stable. The crowd began screaming and clapping their hands.

A chill crept up the Uchiha heir's spine. What was the world coming to? Was it April Fools? Why wasn't someone screaming, "Got you this time, Itachi!"? What had he and the village done to deserve this? What did anyone do to deserve this?

Black eyes narrowed into slits as they rested upon the newly named fifth. It was unacceptable. This entire situation was completely pathetic and only showed how far Kohona had fallen. Perhaps, his father was right, Kohona's leadership was faulty. Well, it was time he did as his father had suggested, take initiative. But what could he do?

Assassinating the hokage would be the easiest way to remove him. But the idea was _almost _utterly ludicrous. The Uchiha clan did not need the heir running around and killing fellow villagers, it would only instigate an internal war. A civil war would cause insecurity, and in a time when another shinobi war was threatening to rise was a bad idea. Assassinating was extremely frowned upon anyways; perhaps a spar and a _slip_ of the hand would be easier to do without attracting too much attention. Of course, he'd have to wait for Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura to leave the village… And the chance of that happening while war was threatening was impossible.

Itachi took a breath, stopping his thoughts. He needed to distance himself; he was becoming foolish. Killing the man wasn't something he wished; he just wanted him gone. Was that too much to ask?

That was why the only way to solve the problem reasonably was to become hokage—somehow. After all, it was most likely Tsunade and Kakashi had both turned down the offer (for how could such a man be first choice.) Naruto was still too immature and energetic to hold the position. He could aid the blond…Then again; Naruto was only a preference for the position when compared to the one currently holding it.

Now, what could he do to become hokage? Drop out of ANBU and become a special jounin, follow Kakashi's suit and train three newly appointed genins? Perhaps that would gain him popularity, but it would take time and not mention he might die of a headache before that. There had to be something else, something he was missing.

The crowd screamed praises and "Long Lives" while Itachi rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought. Could he appeal to the council? If he hadn't burned his bridge with Danzo through insulting him it would have been a possibility. Sadly, Itachi had never thought of the likelihood of becoming hokage before today. If only he'd had such foresight. Maybe he could find someone to appeal for him. Surely he was not the only unblind member of society. Itachi looked around once more in hope. Everyone looked to be cheering though, everyone but him.

Itachi looked back to the platform. The eyes of the fifth looked down upon him, seeing his lack of congratulations or applause. The man smiled, ear to ear in a jeer. As if taunting Itachi to take what he had, or as if to say "I have won!"

Itachi gritted his teeth. He had to think of something. He could feel the sickness in his stomach growing as dread filled him. It began to dawn on him that there was nothing he could do. Nothing he said now mattered. He was not yet clan leader, something he had just denied taking before his clan's elders last council. He was not a man of diplomatic relations; he always chose assassinations or retrievals over delegation missions. He was not the picture of 'friendliness', many parents pulled their children out of his reach (strangely it started happening more often in the last year since the day known as the 'Halloween' passed. He shudder at remembering atrocious event; people had come to his door, banged upon it, and then demanded some sort of reconciliation for their banging. To top it off, several children had come with black ponytails and lines on their face as if to mock him.) He was stuck, at least for a time. He would need to sit and plan; eventually he'd figure out a way to get to the top.

Suddenly, Itachi felt arms cling around him in embrace. Itachi turned and looked at Shisui with disgust, knowing he was going to say something stupid.

"Can you believe it, cousin?" Shisui squealed in his ear, "Can you believe Jirairya-sensie is now the hokage?"

No, Itachi could still not truly believe it. As far as he was concerned he was in a horrible nightmare. That or it was all some joke… some cruel, cruel joke.


	20. Bad Influence

_**For those of you who saw the first post. Every edit I made was put back into my work. Darn Microsoft Word and Fanfictions upload. I am so very sorry /sob I'll never use the review feature again –I've never felt so ashamed at posting something…. Again I apologize for not catching it sooner. **_

_For some reason it feels my writing has taken a turn for the worst :O For several months I've done nothing but math, physics and programs hence the reason nothing has been updated But since next week is dead week and the week after, finals, I had the need to let my creative energy burst forth in a tidal wave before tackling rotational inertia and integration head on. _

_What does this all mean? – I'm asking for a kind and gentle grammar genius to spare some time for this poor chapter of rather long elated sentences that I'm prone to write when my fingers begin to move on their own and voices of multiple characters all ask to be heard at once. ;) _

_I would like to thank all of you, except for zenbon sakura, for your patience during my dry spell. To Zenbon Sakura: You almost didn't get an update because I almost died laughing at your review. I'm glad you enjoyed the story so much _

_A special thank you to Hushnelle for giving me writing prompts which allowed me to break out of my writer's block. I haven't enjoyed writing in a while to tell you the truth, but once I was going again I felt the joy that I'd long since forgotten. I also felt brave enough to finish this piece, which has been sitting in my 'working projects' folder since September of last year._

_I would really appreciate it if you'd leave a review and let me know if you liked the story, tone, style or if you didn't. I'd especially like some feedback on the omniscient close author point of view that was used. If you didn't care for it __**and **__**suggest**__ a different style, I'll gladly give it a shot! _

_Well, I had fun writing this piece… it kind of made me feel like the old me. I hope the lengthy author's note wasn't a turn off. _

_I hope you enjoyed. _

_Team Seven – 19 _

_Itachi – 24_

Chapter 20: Bad Influence

Bright blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight, the determination in them sent those of lesser ambition running for a couch, bed, or (in one particular grey-haired man's case) a newly released book starring characters of unrealistic emotions and beauty (a book inappropriate for young adults.) But the bright blue eyes continued to gleam, never sensing the distraught of the lazy or those of lower resolve. Of course, knowing would not have stopped the owner of the eyes.

The boy's character was that of –

"Sensei!" the boy cried in alarm at seeing the purple book.

"Hmm?" The book lowered slightly, low enough for the top part of a black eye to be revealed. The words, 'I'm no longer your sensei', or the preference, 'My name is Kakashi', did not leave the mouth of the man; for time had taught him that very little of what he said had impact on the younger male before him. Whether this was due to the fact that habits die hard or the more realistic hypothesis, the boy didn't actually hear him due to the 'Dattaboy's, 'Believe it's, or small attention span was unknown. But nevertheless, Kakashi's outward persona was that of indifference, and he had learned that trying to correct the statement 'Sensei' was pretty much like poking a dead fish with a stick and expecting it to return to life, sprout legs and to start singing. So… Kakashi had given up.

"The book!" the boy let out a huff as he stuck his face closer to Kakashi's. The scars on the boy's cheeks were more clearly defined by the close proximity and that proximity made the hairs on the back of Kakashi's neck stand on end. Shinobi were trained to not let people close, and years of being with the very touchy, loud, boisterous boy before him had done little to put his mind at ease. In fact, the loud yells and proclamations of becoming the greatest shinobi were usually accompanied by a thin sheen of fluids projected from the mouth area. The liquid used to land between his waist and chest, but as the years passed the boy's liquid became closer to his head. Now the boy was level, if not taller than him. And coming to that realization, Kakashi prepared by adding another layer to his facial mask.

But this is not a chapter about the measures Kakashi took to remove himself from germ pathways. This is a chapter about the boy in which the germs emanated from, Naruto Uzamaki or, if you'd rather, Naruto Namikaze. Whichever your preference of last name is, you have no doubt heard of this Naruto. If you are a highly ambitious person, you have probably felt waves of joy and energy fall upon you at times, lifting your spirit and causing you to spring forth in vigor. If you are not such a person, you have no doubt gotten a sick feeling in your stomach and have felt your muscles tire from just sensing someone out there striving to reach an almost untouchable, yet possible, goal. And in turn, you have flipped in your bed, given a good shiver of distress and have fallen back into the realms of sleep where the image of a blond head of hair haunted your nightmares. Yes, I am talking about _that _Naruto.

Now that clarification has been made, let us return to the story at hand.

"We are on an A class mission, shouldn't you put the book down?" Sakura said, for Kakashi had yet to reply to Naruto's statement. He was still struck in horror that his right eye (which had no protection) had been hit with one drop of the spray of fluids from Naruto's previous exclamation.

Being the shinobi he was though, the man kept a blank face and shoved his discontentment out of the way to speak with his other former student. "Can't an old man have at least one pleasure?" Kakashi asked as he nonchalantly rubbed at his face, his eye in particular.

"Sensie! The pervy-sage said to improve diplomatic relationships!" More liquid projectiles aimed themselves upon Kakashi's head. It was like a germaphobian's most horrifying nightmare.

Quickly, Kakashi turned his head towards the princess and asked, "Do you mind?" The remaining shower of droplets fell upon his hair, insignia and mask.

The princess looked at the book then at the man, and then blushed deeply, turning her head to cough with dignity into her hand. "Of course not shinobi-san," the woman replied after looking back over, her face a darker red. The thoughts going through her mind were along the lines of the book that was currently in the man's hand; for she, along with the majority of the female population, had no doubt read the book, the first in the newest series written by a rather famous, perhaps notorious, author. Being that the thoughts involving her and 'shinobi-san' followed the plot and unrealistic scenes within, they are inappropriate for young-adults, or a rated-T fiction, so her thoughts will not be retold upon paper. But you may assume, for all intents and purposes, that her thoughts were along the lines of going on adventures, defeating evil men, and perhaps being saved by a heroic male ANBU or jounin character, namely the one before her (and by that I mean Kakashi not Naruto or Sasuke…ok perhaps Sasuke-only because if she imagined him with longer hair, he could possibly be one of newest book's male protagonist.)

"See," Kakashi stretched from his hunched position and backed several steps away from Naruto before going around him, looking like his outward persona of indifference instead of a man avoiding something particularly distasteful.

The boy gave a huff; it wasn't like he could contradict a princess and still be diplomatic. "But what if we get attacked?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto as if the boy really had the I.Q. of twenty-five. "I suppose we'd then fight…"

"That's not what I mean!" Naruto cried as Sasuke muttered, "Dope," under his breath.

"Would you be ok if your book were to be injured in the attack?" the princess asked, her face extremely flushed as though the sun had been beating down upon her, which it had not since she was wearing a hat commonly worn by workers in rice fields.

The book went to the side and Kakashi looked at the woman. Immediately she turned her gaze from the man. "You have a point," Kakashi then decided, putting the book back into this weapons pouch, "this is my special edition copy."

It then finally occurred to Sasuke that the odd feeling he'd been having since starting the journey had been emanating because of his ex-sensei. It took a couple seconds before Sasuke came to the conclusion as to why. "Kakashi, were you even reading it?"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, not quite understanding the question or what it entailed. If he foresaw exactly what would come of such a question, he would have immediately dissuaded the younger male; but as it was…

"Sasuke, his nose was completely in it," Sakura growled.

"Yeah, Sasuke you're the idiot. Anybody could see that he was reading it."

"Why did you think I wasn't?" Kakashi asked somewhat concerned. After all, blindness was a trait that came with the sharingan. If Sasuke was showing symptoms he would need to be taken directly to the head medic upon their return to the village.

"You weren't-" Sasuke started before he began coughing into his sleeve, his eyes looking toward the princess.

Immediately Naruto caught on. "Yeah, Sensie, you didn't seem that into it," Naruto continued on, a mischievous smirk spreading across his face like wild fire.

The princess began to blush even a darker red, getting the wrong idea. The younger adults were insinuating that Kakashi had yet to giggle.( What the princess thought is, again, something not appropriate for a T-Rated fiction and therefor will not be told here.)

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed only a fraction of an centimeter, but all three students caught it. Already, Kakashi knew this wasn't going to end well and he should have stopped the questioning earlier. Under the circumstances he probably shouldn't have read the book, but his parental instincts had won out and he'd bought the book without his normal enthusiasm for the author. He knew who the book was about, and knew exactly what would be in it, and it was because of that he couldn't… He wanted to cough in some embarrassment, but he knew none of them had any idea of the basis of the characters in the book nor the relationship that was blooming far too rapidly for his liking. Once he got back to the village he felt like wringing Jiraiya's neck. But not before killing an Uchiha heir in the process. Training Sakura for ANBU was enough to tie the brat to a post and threaten him… The other situations though… those warranted death.

"I just wasn't that into it," Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and continued on as though killing intent had not radiated from him… and his ex-students had not backed several feet away.

All ex-students gave large sighs of relief before returning to their previous distance from Kakashi. Of course, even though they let the subject drop; it would not be forgotten, especially by the most nosy member, Naruto. It was going to be a long mission for Kakashi, he should have resisted bringing the novel with him but… Out of the corner of his eyes he watched the female member of his squad. He'd noticed her methods of fighting had become more shinobi-like than her normal, extraordinary chakra enhanced fists of fury, but he'd summed it up to her maturing as a shinobi. What had changed was her getting extra lessons from one of the more powerful but subtle ninjas in the village. She was training for ANBU and while she was still a long ways away from achieving such a goal, it still made him want to grind his teeth. In his head they were still kids bantering back and forth like always. He had to remind himself though, they weren't kids anymore. They were his team.

He closed his one eye in thought. He would need to start training again if he wanted to be accepted back into ANBU and be placed as a captain. He opened his eye. He'd go to Genma to start a training schedule as soon as he returned; as much as the man was a playboy he knew how to manage work and pleasure. Enough so that it was likely none of his lovers believed he actually trained at all for missions. It would be key to be discrete. He wasn't going to join unless his team did and he didn't want to put any ideas into Naruto's and Sasuke's heads. That reminded him. Before he killed the Uchiha heir, he was going to make sure the kid understood that lying to one of his team members was inexcusable. If the man hadn't said Naruto and Sasuke were training for ANBU, Sakura would have never agreed to the training.

He was glad that he'd read the book during a mission though. He would have probably gone to confront both hokage and prodigy as soon as he'd started. But now that there was space, he had some time to think calmly about such matters. Sakura was nineteen-old enough to decide what she wanted to do as far as her career. But there was no need for her to throw herself into danger needlessly, especially when the only reason she felt the need to do so was because of a lie that one of her seniors told her. In the book, Itachi had continued to abuse his influence over Sakura as her superior even after lying to her. It was beyond inappropriate and the man needed to be reminded of the rules that governed society, both shinobi and the ones that dealt with relationships, like they needed to be mutual.

Jiraiya needed to be dealt with as well. Right now the man was in a position of power and respect, going around spying on people, especially _his _teammate, required action. The girl was 41 years younger than toad sage. The fact that the man was peeking on her was beyond creepy, and no, it didn't matter to Kakashi that he hadn't cared previously when the books hadn't featured his student.(Or that he probably would have gone on uncaring if Jiraiya had left his teammate alone.)

The A-rank mission would be another seven days and to travel back home would be another five. So he had time to figure out both his emotional stance on the book and what to do with the author and protagonist. He looked up at that moment at a bird passing overhead. With the trouble with Sound dying down due to the current drought in the Sound area, they'd been sent on this mission that would have been considered C if not for the title of the person they were escorting. The kingdom was in a time of peace with its neighbors, not to mention it was rather poor when compared with them as well. The princess was the youngest of thirteen other brothers and sisters, so she would never take over ruling. The only thing they had to worry about was bandits, no assassins or kidnappers (for the other kingdoms had plenty of wealthier families to kidnap from).

It was a good thing there wasn't much to deal with. He had a lot of thinking and planning to do.

* * *

"Why won't you guys believe me!" Naruto cried, "I'm telling you, something is up with Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke and Sakura sighed in unison, "Let it go."

"Listen to me. He's normally quiet but he's not this quiet!"

"What do you think is wrong then?" Sakura asked, her green eyes narrowed in annoyance. She wanted him to stop, but knew it would never happen until he'd said his peace. She began swirling the broth in her empty ramen bowl with her chopsticks. Out of all the places to eat, they'd decided here. How Naruto managed to talk a princess into eating ramen was beyond her.

The princess hadn't said much as she sat next to Sakura in the booth, looking very interested in what the people around her were saying. Across from her was Naruto, and next to him Sasuke. Kakashi had decided to get rooms and check out the inn for security purpose, leaving them to order food.

"He's been replaced!" Naruto cried, spewing small particles of ramen and spit across the table at Sakura who let out a warning growl.

"Who's been replaced?" Everybody at the table jumped at the voice and Naruto's mouth froze in its open position and blue eyes darted to the side where the object of his conversation stood.

Kakashi leaned forward slightly, his one eye closed in one of his warning smiles.

Naruto finally gulped, choked on air and began chugging water.

Letting the subject slide, Kakashi picked up the to-go bowl of ramen and the pair of chopsticks on top. "It's looks like all of you are done, let's go." Kakashi extended his arm to the princess and she took it quickly, her eyes looking at the ground. Kakashi's eyes roamed to his team, "Of course, that is if you're done gossiping." All three immediately scrambled to their feet. Naruto partially tripped over the leg of the table and stumbled forward. Kakashi's freehand shoved Naruto back into Sasuke, causing him to stumble and with that the princess and him left. The three shinobi watched as their team lead walked down the street.

"Your right," Sasuke finally admitted, "Something is up with Kakashi."

Sakura's green eyes went to the boys beside her, "Which one of you made him angry."

"How can you say that Sakura!" Naruto cried, "I haven't done anything, I swear!"

Sasuke then sighed, "It probably was you, dope."

"Yeah."

With that the blond headed man was left alone, knowing that he truly hadn't done anything to Kakashi (the prank he planned on this mission was on Sasuke.) Naruto tightened his hand into a fist. His blue eyes glowed with determination. He was going to find out what was wrong with Kakashi and fix it. After all, it was his duty to help and protect his precious people. With this new priority determined, he quickly jogged out of the restaurant to catch up with his team members.

Sadly, this would lead to the end of the young male's innocence. For, if he'd just left it alone, he could have continued his rambunctious and worry free life a little longer. But 'ifs' do little good; for by the time the sun rose the next morning the mind of a boy would be transformed into a man. And if one were to look back upon this moment, the moment Naruto fist pumped the air with ambition to figure out the troubled mind of his ex-sensie, they would say that this is what started the chain of events that led to an awkward conversation with a clan heir, a near dead hokage, a wedding proposal coming from Sasuke and a serious confession by Shisui. One might blame it on Kakashi, for it was he who bought Icha Icha Training. But if one were to go further back in time, to the very beginning, one can easily place all blame upon Naruto (I am indeed referring to chapter one). Poor Naruto has been the catalyst of the entire series of complicated events that have occurred and he will prove himself to be a catalyst of many more in the following chapters… but I am getting ahead of myself…

At the fist pumping moment, Naruto was still unaware of how much more complicated things could become or how hectic life was going to get. His focus was completely on determining the source of emotion coming from his ex-sensei. So with a mind that had genes coming from one of the most brilliant hokages, the boy began contemplating the entire mission, trying to pinpoint exactly when his ex-sensei began behaving so strangely. At coming to the conclusion that it all began at the start of the journey, in particular with the purple novel that fit quite snuggly in his ex-sensei's pouch , the naïve male began planning. He was going to get ahold of that book, because whatever was in it was the cause of his ex-sensei's abnormal behavior.

And so the plan: "Get Kakashi's Book!" began.

Of course, telling his idea to Sasuke and Sakura while they were about to go into the inn got him a bump on the head. After all, last time they tried to take any of Kakashi's reading material, all three of them ended up tied to logs in training area three. They'd wanted to have an upper hand on Kakashi but quickly learned the lesson that the most obvious weak point usually isn't a weak point at all. So Naruto was on his truly on his own… that is until he realized that there was a third person he could turn to.

By nature, Naruto was not a very manipulative person. He was usually rather loud and straightforward about everything he did. But, he'd lived long enough to know that Kakashi caught on rather quickly to things like that. He also knew from his lessons with the sage that there were instinctual actions in humans that could be used for 'greater' purposes.

* * *

"Akemi-hime," Naruto whispered through the log wall separating the male and female baths. Naruto had quickly gone before the others. He knew that the princess would enter the women's bath first and that Sakura would have to check the perimeter before going in herself. It meant that he would have the opportune time to speak with the princess alone.

"Yes, Naruto," the princess whispered back, sounding slightly eager, as if doing something forbidden.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have some fun…Have you ever heard of something called a prank?"

* * *

Kakashi was looking at him, and he knew he was probably blowing his cover, excitement was always hard for him to hide. Naruto quickly glanced to the side at Sasuke, who was also examining him with one of his hard stares as well.

"What are you up to, dope?" Sasuke let out a growl.

"Nothing." To both Kakashi and Sasuke, the look on Naruto's face was too familiar. The light smirk, hiding behind an innocent smile and bright blue eyes looking hurt at being accused meant only one thing to their minds. Naruto had planned a prank and because he wasn't ready to spill his guts, it meant that one or both of them was the target. Kakashi and Sasuke looked at each other, trying to judge if perhaps the other was in on it too. Both of their stares turned harder, trying to determine the other's move. While Kakashi had never actually taken part of such childish games, it didn't mean he was oblivious either. And while Sasuke didn't break eye contact (like he usually did when guilty), it would always be possible to Kakashi that the man had learned to control his facial expressions. And so the staring contest seemed to continue, leaving Naruto to fake cough on spring water he didn't drink to signal his partner in crime to instigate the plan.

At first there was nothing. And then-

"Akemi-hime!" Sakura cried.

In an instant both shinobi beside Naruto were out of the water and over the wall in a flash, ignoring the boundary. Quickly Naruto was out of the water as well, creating multiple shadow clones. All but one followed him over the wall. The last though… walked into the changing room and grabbed the purple book, which had been placed carefully on the bench to avoid contact with water. The clone snickered with its white teeth showing, before it took off to deliver the book to the room Sasuke and Naruto were sharing.

But meanwhile –

"Akemi-hime, she just collapsed," Sakura said supporting the woman with one hand. Immediately after Kakashi analyzed the situation and surrounding area, and deeming both safe, he hosted the woman up, bridal style.

The woman gave a low moan, as if waking from slumber. Her brown eyes blinked slowly. She raised one hand and placed it upon Kakashi's shoulder and she pulled herself up so her face was completely level with the man holding her. Then, with speed enhanced by fangirlness that no man can possibly comprehend, the woman kissed Kakashi right on the lips (on top of his mask, of course). Kakashi, blinked, taken aback and stepped backwards, right on top of Sasuke's foot. This caused the black hair man to shove Kakashi forward, which then caused another kiss to happen between princess and shinobi.

After the princess deemed the kiss over, she began giggling then howling with laughter until it became so loud that Kakashi had to set her down and back away. As the once quiet, but now loud, woman leaned against the wall laughing herself out of breath, she turned to Naruto who stood watching the incident with a massive smile on his face.

"Your right, Naruto," the princess gasped, "these things called pranks are indeed fun. Thank you."

Naruto smiled even wider and started laughing too. He couldn't have planned it better. Sakura eventually began to laugh (more out of relief that the woman hadn't been hurt on her watch) and Sasuke let out chuckle. Of course, all shinobi stopped their laughter when Kakashi's one eye narrowed and killing intent seemed to fill the air around them.

"Come on Kakashi, you should have seen your face," Naruto started to laugh again, trying to break the dark aura. It didn't though, and Naruto's laughter died as if it had been stabbed in the heart by a shuriken.

Kakashi didn't let the aura fade, he was still mad; but… It was the first time Naruto had used his name without calling him sensei. He turned to the princess with a rather frightening smile, although she couldn't see it due to the mask. "May I escort you back to your room, hime."

It was meant to be threatening, but the princess was rather oblivious to such a fact. She gave is shoulder a kidding slap. "You naughty-boy," she started, "of course you can." She winked and Kakashi blinked. Once again taken aback by how the demure thirteenth child of monarchy had become such a shameless woman. Of course, as he tried to step away from the princess, she grabbed his bare arm and dragged him through the changing room and into the hallways of the inn, both of them still dressed in towels.

"Naruto…"Sakura began, "what have you done?"

Two burst into laughter and one into a chuckle.

As dusk turned to night all three returned to their rooms (except Sakura went to Kakashi's instead of staying with the princess like the original plan), for Kakashi had gone missing in action and no one wanted to actually knock on the door of the princess's room for reasons that will not be explained in a T-rated fiction. You may assume that these reasons are along the lines of the princess's earlier thoughts that will not be told here. You may also assume that whatever happened to Kakashi distracted him enough that he didn't notice the purple book was missing, until the following morning when he returned to the bath house to gather his belongings. He just assumed that his special edition copy had been taken by another male visitor at the inn.

So Naruto got what he wanted and when Sasuke turned out his light, Naruto stayed up, reading into the night the lovely tale of two people, one a jounin and one an ANBU, in love and the adventures they had during training. Of course, if Naruto had actually gotten what the story was about, the complicated situations that occurred would not have happened. But Naruto didn't. For some reason, Naruto had comprehended that this story was indeed about Sakura, for who could miss the fiery personality and fighting style. On the other hand, Naruto came to the assumption that Sakura wasn't really training for ANBU (why would she if he and Sasuke weren't) and therefor the person training with her was not actually ANBU at all. Instead, Naruto decided that some features of the other protagonist had been somewhat changed, like Sakura (instead of the features being identical to the real thing minus stress lines). Perhaps Itachi did not occur to Naruto because the Naruto believe that Itachi agreed to not train Sakura anymore. But for whatever reason, Naruto came to the wrong conclusion about the other protagonist.

With a goofy smile, Naruto turned his head to the side to look at his best-friend. Now that he thought about it, Sasuke had seemed a bit more cheerful lately…or maybe it was just his imagination, Sasuke really wasn't that different. Suddenly Naruto frowned, knowing exactly why Kakashi was upset. Shinobi were not allowed on the same team if they were having romantic relations. They were going to be separated. Naruto put the book off to the side and looked up at the sunrise. He was going to the lose the only family he'd ever known. But… It wasn't like he was going to lose them forever. He looked back over at Sasuke. "If you're happy, I'm happy," Naruto gently murmured. He just wondered which one would be the one to leave, Sasuke or Sakura. He also worried about who the replacement would be and how severely the team dynamics would change.

* * *

By the time Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura got downstairs, Akemi and Kakashi were already sitting at a table enjoying breakfast. Immediately all three sported mischievous smirks and walked up to the table.

"How was your night?" Naruto said cheekily.

Kakashi gave one of his closed eye grins. "Very good."

Akemi winked, "You wanna know what we did?"

Immediately Naruto lost his cheekiness, and scratched the back of his head, "You know I really don't think that's necessary-"

"No!," the princess cried, "I have so many details. So first when I got him into the room I pushed him onto the be-"

"We are going to get some food." All three backed away from the table, quickly…

Akemi turned to Kakashi with an evil glimmer in her eye, "How was that?"

"If you had been quicker about giving _details_ the expression on their faces would have been more fearful…"

"I'll get them when they come back. I didn't spend all night practicing those lines you taught me for nothing."

It is needless to say, but the kingdom kindly requested that team seven (in particular the blond haired man by the name of Naruto) never again meet with another member of the royal family; for he, along with the rest of team seven, were deemed a bad influence.


	21. Cupcakes

_I am sorry how long it has taken to update. While this is probably not considered a 'true' update to the actual story line, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. This is set in the past and it is part of Complicated Series of Events. Thank you for taking the time to read my work and to those of you who have reviewed, I sincerely appreciate it.  
Please take care,  
Z.z_

* * *

Cupcakes

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, which Sasuke dreaded more than cupcakes. Why? There was a valid reason.

The reason began on Sasuke's fifth birthday. The tiny child, chubby cheeked and happy, had risen just before noon (for all main house Uchihas were allowed to sleep in on their one special day). Still slightly drowsy, the little child made his way to the hall with a ratty looking bear (Mr. Squeakie) in hand. There, the child, who was raised within the most prominent ninja clan, should have realized that something was wrong with his older-cousin, who was lying across the hallway with a large bump on the side of his head. But the tiny child was still sleepy and just stepped over the figure lying on the floor.

Onward the little boy went to the kitchen, for it was his own stomach's growling that had awoken him. Upon turning the corner to the entrance way, the child ran into something. Blinking slowly, rubbing one eye, the boy looked up. Immediately he noticed the familiar apron and the smell of good food.

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke-chan. Did you sleep well?" the figure asked, the voice was slightly high pitched and squinting from sleepy, blurry eyes the boy could just make out the long untied hair.

"Yes, Ka-san; I'm hungry."

At first there was no reply. No sweet singing voice, told the child he could have whatever he wanted for breakfast on his birthday (as was also an Uchiha main house tradition.) The figure in the kitchen froze like a stone statue at the boy's words.

"What was that Sasuke-chan? I'm afraid I didn't quite hear you."

If the boy had been more awake, if he had taken another look at who he was talking to, he might have been saved. Alas, the little boy merely held up his bear and said once more, "Me and Mr. Squeakie are hungry, mama."

The person coughed. Laughter could be heard by the body laying in the walkway outside the kitchen. There was still no singing voice, telling the child he could whatever he wanted for his birthday. This made the child rub at his eyes once more and look up.

The scowling face looking down upon him did not make the child anymore perceptible to the circumstances or tense situation he was in. Instead the child laughed, quite gleefully, and told his older brother, "You look like mama with your hair down, Itachi."

The laughter in the hallway turned to snorts and said Itachi walked out of the room for several moments. In those several moments, the laughter stopped, and without any other sound coming from the area, Itachi walked back in.

"I'm sorry to have confused you," Itachi said, patting his brother's head. The smile was tight though, and the burrow on the forehead revealed that Itachi wasn't very sorry at all. He was far too angry to be sorry.

"It's alright," the child said. And with no preservation instinct to be found in the young body, the boy continued, "I think you look really pretty. You look like a mama." And he did look like their mother with the apron on, if one excluded the firm and pissed look on his face (perhaps his face in general) and the lack of female body parts. To a young child, not sure of the difference between women and men, Itachi indeed looked like, in a much stretched perception of the term, a caring mother.

Delightful howling could be heard from the hallway. Once again Itachi walked out and then walked back in when it was silent.

"Is that so..." the Itachi said, his mouth clicking. It really hadn't been a question, although it was worded like one.

"Yep," the birthday child chimed.

Itachi's left eye twitched, and then his eyes flickered to the nonliving object in the boy's hand, Mr. Squeakie. Itachi plucked the bear from the boy's grasp and proceeded to walk out of the room. Itachi then threw the bear (with chakra enhanced strength) at the figure on the floor that was just starting to move. A low grunt and raspy squeak, signaling a direct hit, came out before the figure once more collapsed to the ground.

Itachi turned backed to little Sasuke with only a sentence of explanation, "Mr. Squeakie wanted to tell Shisui good morning."

The boy was only too happy to agree as he had something else on his mind. "I'm hungry..." and then the boy remembered to remind his older brother that there was something important about being fed. "It's my birthday," the boy hinted.

Itachi smiled a real smile this time, and then asked what the boy had been hoping his brother would ask all along, "What do you want for breakfast?"

The answer was immediate, the boy had thought upon it all night, "Cupcakes!"

Itachi gave a nod, "Very well. I'll get started; you go get dressed."

If the child had let that be it, if he had read the signs earlier, if he wasn't so used to his mother being in the kitchen; all would have been fine. Sadly, the boy opened his mouth. "Thanks Ka-san, I mean Itachi."

Out the boy trotted, not bothering to look back at his brother, not feeling the static like intensity emanating from the older boy. Sasuke jumped over Shisui, or at least tried to, but instead landed on an arm that was spread out. In ignorance of the groan, the boy picked up his favorite toy. "Good morning, Shisui," the boy said, heading to his bedroom.

When the boy returned dressed and ready, the body was gone and the smell from the kitchen did not resemble that of the sweet, gentle whiff of cupcakes. But the five year old boy was oblivious and happily sat at the table awaiting his brother's meal, of which he was sure would be delicious.

As it turned out, Itachi did not know much about cooking at the age of ten. Even as much as he loved his little brother, the sour mood he was in did not make him intend to learn it either. So before Sasuke was placed a plate. The plate had a _normal-looking_ sized cupcake, topped with icing the color of black with the consistency of lumpy. Even younger children would probably have the self-preservation to at least question the substance upon the plate, or at least the color of said substance. Needless to say Sasuke did not have that self-preservation and trusted his brother to a fault.

As a child Sasuke's skills were of a very low bar, although when he grew up he became a very proficient and exemplary ninja. It was, perhaps, at this moment when the complete change in attitude and outlook of the world occurred. The giant, enormous bite Sasuke took of the cupcake before him, changed the course of his life forever.

The expression of pure horror, the muffled scream caused by trying to choke up what he'd just eaten and yet cry all happened the moment the bite was fully in his mouth. Sasuke shot from the table and into the bathroom, tears streaking down his face.

That night, Mikoto leaned in kissing her birthday boy on the forehead as she arrived home from her trip. "And what does my little boy want for his special birthday dinner?" she sang.

The boy gulped, gave one quick look at his older brother (whose hair is rarely ever seen let down since), and then back at his mother. "Vegetables or fruit."

Immediately, Mikoto, although thinking the request strange, went to fulfill it. "We only have tomatoes, is that ok?"

And so it was upon Sasuke's fifth birthday that he became to detest all sweet things, and above all else abhor cupcakes. It was also the day he discovered that his new favorite food was tomatoes as Mikoto, being the excellent cook she was, made several delicious dishes all featuring tomatoes as a prime ingredient.


End file.
